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A study of the effect of styrene concentration on the molecular weight of polypropylene produced using metallocene catalysts
Author(s) -
Peoples Brian C,
Rodríguez Francisco J,
Galland Griselda B,
Rabagliati Franco M,
Quijada Raul
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.3029
Subject(s) - polypropylene , tacticity , methylaluminoxane , materials science , polymer , catalysis , metallocene , styrene , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , molecular mass , nanocomposite , polymerization , composite material , copolymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , enzyme
It has been observed in the production of polypropylene nanocomposites containing silicate materials that the molecular weight of the polymer used can have a significant effect on the final quality of the composites. The availability of polypropylene over a range of molecular weights with similar material properties (e.g. melting temperature and tacticity) is limited. Therefore, the ability to use a single catalyst system to generate polypropylene with a range of molecular weights is an attractive goal. In this contribution the use of styrene as a chain‐terminating agent is explored, in order to produce materials with a range of molecular weights from a single catalyst system. It is found that the molecular weight of the polypropylene produced can be varied in the range from 120 000 to 9000 g mol −1 using the Me 2 Si(Ind) 2 ZrCl 2 /methylaluminoxane catalyst system. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry