Interfacial Modifiers Based on Polypropylene

Chemical modification of polymers affords an opportunity to modify undesired properties that would limit or even invalidate the potential usefulness of these materials. Polypropylene polymers are a good example, because their applications depend on their stereoregularity. Atactic homopolymer, a by-product from industrial polymerization reactors, lacks good material properties. However, its chemical modification by grafting with polar groups, one can convert it into a useful new material, as suggested by Natta (37). 

As it has been demonstrated in the previous sections and also in numerous works available in the literature, the efficiency of the succinic anhydride grafted groups onto polypropylene backbone as interfacial modifiers on blends and composites based on polypropylene is indeed proved. 

In spite of its very high economic relevance, the process to obtain these new high value-added polypropylenes is far away to be realized. Indeed, the chemical modification of the polypropylene by grafting of polar groups is not well understood because of the complex nature of the process from the point of view of the chemical engineering. It means one needs to take into consideration the reactor where the process takes place, as well as the nature of the macromolecules as reactants or coreactants. 

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