Among the different additives commonly used in processing of thermoplastic polymers, nucleating agents stand out since they not only may significantly enhance the rate of production of artifacts, but in addition may dramatically alter the solid-state structure of the polymer and, therewith, its final properties, including important characteristics such as stiffness, ductility and transparency.

Unfortuntely, until now, fundamental concepts for the rational design of nulceating/clarifying agents appear to be lacking, which is the subject of our joint efforts with the Group of Professor H.-W. Schmidt, Universität Bayreuth in this area.

Studies are focussed on the phase behavior of known additives and isotactic polypropylene (i-PP). In addition, broad efforts are underway to develop structure/property relations for a new class of nucleating agents developed in Bayreuth.