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Reactor blending of polyethylene with ethyl‐bridged zirconocene catalyst and iron‐based diimine complex
Author(s) -
Guo Cunyue,
Ma Zhi,
Zhang Mingge,
Ke Yucai,
Hu Youliang
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.12682
Subject(s) - crystallinity , differential scanning calorimetry , polyethylene , materials science , polymer chemistry , gel permeation chromatography , molar mass distribution , polymerization , thermogravimetric analysis , bimetallic strip , catalysis , chemical engineering , scanning electron microscope , low density polyethylene , nuclear chemistry , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
Blends of polyethylene (PE) were produced in a single reactor using a combination of {[(2‐ArNC(Me)) 2 C 5 H 3 N]FeCl 2 } [Ar2,6‐2CH 3 (C 6 H 4 )] and rac ‐Et(Ind) 2 ZrCl 2 . The experimental results showed that the PEs obtained have a broad molecular weight distribution (MWD) and both the molecular weight and the MWD can be regulated through changing the mole ratio of the two active sites. In addition, the polymerization activities decreased with the increase of the Fe/Zr mole ratio whereas the crystallinity of the PE obtained exhibited a contrary trend, decreasing as the Fe/Zr mole ratio went up. The morphology of the blends also directly relates to the Fe/Zr mole ratio, and more iron content in the bimetallic catalysts system gives rise to compact PEs of high crystallinity. This reflects that the reactor blends are morphology controllable as well and can be easily applied to present processing techniques because of adjustable molecular weights and their distribution. Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, gel permeation chromatography, and scanning electron microscopy were employed to characterize the properties of the reactor blends of PEs. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1515–1518, 2003