In-situ polymerization of silica/polyethylene using bisupported Ziegler-Natta catalyst of nanosilica/BOM/TiCl4/TEAL: Study of thermo-mechanical properties system

Abstract

• Preparation of silica/PE nanocomposite using a bisupported Ziegler-Natta catalytic system. • The nanosilica/BOM/TiCl 4 /TEAL was characterized by TEM, FTIR, BET, and SEM analysis. • The thermal properties of the nanocomposites were studied by DSC and TG analysis (TGA). The physical and chemical properties of silica-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts industrially important for polyethylene/silica production. Polyethylene (PE)/silica nanocomposites were prepared through in-situ polymerization using a bisupported Ziegler-Natta catalytic system. Since the silica and nanosilica-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts have shown low efficiency in the ethylene polymerization. This problem was solved through the prepared bisupported catalyst in this study. This approach includes the preparation and utilization of a bisupported nanosilica/BOM/TiCl 4 /TEAL catalytic system in which nanosilica and BOM (butyl octyl magnesium) were used as conjugate supports and also TEAL (triethyl aluminum) was as an activator. It was found that the performance of the nanosilica-BOM bisupported catalyst was efficient in the ethylene polymerization towards the preparation of the PE/silica nanocomposites. Hydrogen was applied to control the molecular weight of the nanocomposites. An unusual polymerization behavior was observed in the presence of hydrogen. The nanocomposites were not soluble in any solvent. The nanostructure of the resulting PE/silica nanocomposites was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FTIR, BET, and SEM. The thermal properties of the nanocomposites were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).