Polypropylene is undoubtedly one of the polymers with the greatest potential for the future. This fact is justified by the growing habit of its markets, even in the most acute times of crisis. Within most of the sectors in which new applications are found, they give rise to this structural material, considered one of the most attractive due to the advantageous conditions of economic competitiveness. Polypropylene is a member of the group of thermoplastics of great consumption compared to the engineering ones, and even more compared to those polymers of high performance.
In 1954, the Italian G. Natta, following the work carried out by K. Ziegler in Germany, succeeded in obtaining polypropylene with a very regular structure, called isotactic. Its commercialization in Europe and North America began rapidly in 1957, in applications for household utensils.
The work of Natta and Ziegler, which made it possible to obtain ethylene polymers from olefins, opened the way to obtaining other polymers. This plastic, also with a semi-crystalline structure, had better mechanical properties than polyethylene, its density was the lowest of all plastics, and its price was very affordable, but it was very sensitive to cold and ultraviolet light, which made it age rapidly. For this reason, its use was reduced to a few applications. But the discovery of new light stabilizers, and the greater resistance to cold achieved with propylene-ethylene polymerization, and the ease with which PP could accept reinforcing fillers, fiberglass, talc, asbestos and its low price, gave a great boost to the use of this material.
The wide range of properties of polypropylene makes it suitable for a wide variety of applications in different sectors and sets the standard for the materials of the future, as well as being a much more economical alternative. As a result, the use of this material is growing steadily thanks to the development of new and improved products.
Source: Final Project "Recycling of Polypropylene" Olazar Oviedo, Solange López, Gonzalo Eliel