Behavior of poly(ethylene‐co‐olefin) polymers as elastomeric materials

Abstract

AbstractThe properties of two new ethylene‐α‐olefin copolymers, namely, ethylene–1‐hexene copolymer (EHC) and ethylene–1‐octadecene copolymers (EOC), synthesized via metallocene catalysts were evaluated. The copolymerization was carried out in an autoclave reactor with Et(Indenyl)2ZrCl2/methylaluminoxane as a catalyst system. These single‐site catalysts (metallocene type) allow one to obtain very homogeneous copolymers with excellent control of the molecular weight distribution and proportion of comonomer incorporation. So, copolymers with 18 mol % comonomer in the case of EHC and 12 mol % for EOC were shaped, and activities around 100,000 kg of polymer mol−1 of Zr bar−1 h−1 were reached. The properties of these copolymers were compared with other commercial elastomers, such as ethylene–propylene copolymers synthesized by Ziegler–Natta catalysts and an ethylene–octene copolymer obtained via metallocene catalysts. The results show that these new copolymers, in particular, EOC, had excellent elastomeric properties. Furthermore, they had a relatively low viscosity, which implied a good response during processing. Moreover, the effectiveness of these copolymers as impact modifiers for polyolefins was also studied. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 3008–3015, 2004