Investigation of the crystallization and mechanical properties of wood fiber/polypropylene composites nucleated by a self-assembly β-nucleating agent

Isotactic polypropylene (PP) is a widely used and versatile commodity polymer with several polymorphs (α, β, γ). β-form isotactic PP attracted more interest due to its improved mechanical properties in comparison with the more common α-form. Addition of β-nucleating agents is an easy approach to induce β-form in isotactic PP. Few studies paid attention to the use of β-PP as the matrix of natural fiber/PP composites. In this study, isotactic PP was nucleated by a β-nucleating agent N, N’-dicyclohexylterephthalamide (TMB-5) and then melt compounded with poplar wood fiber (WF) to prepare WF/PP/TMB composites. The influence of adding different contents (0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.3 and 0.5