Research article

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Impact polypropylene copolymers (IPCs) are important commercial materials, but their morphology and molecular architecture are not yet fully understood. In this study the focus was on selectively removing specific fractions from the original IPC, recombining the remaining fractions, and studying the properties and morphology of these recombined polymers. It was found that some properties of the samples changed remarkably, depending on the fraction of material that was removed before recombination. In a similar fashion, morphological changes could be observed. For example, the degree of phase separation and the crystalline morphology of the recombined materials varied noticeably. It was further established that specific copolymer fractions present in the original polymer affect not only the morphology of the final polymer, but also the hardness and impact resistance.