Article

Gas-Phase Polymerization with Transition Metal Catalysts Supported on Montmorillonite – A Particle Morphological Study

  1. Sang-Young A. Shin1,
  2. Leonardo C. Simon1,*,
  3. João B. P. Soares1,*,
  4. Günter Scholz2,
  5. Timothy F. L. McKenna3

Article first published online: 20 NOV 2009

DOI: 10.1002/masy.200951109

Issue

Macromolecular Symposia

Macromolecular Symposia

Special Issue: Reaction Engineering of Polyolefins

Volume 285, Issue 1, pages 64–73, October 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Shin, S.-Y. A., Simon, L. C., Soares, J. B. P., Scholz, G. and McKenna, T. F. L. (2009), Gas-Phase Polymerization with Transition Metal Catalysts Supported on Montmorillonite – A Particle Morphological Study. Macromolecular Symposia, 285: 64–73. doi: 10.1002/masy.200951109

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1

  2. 2

    Department of Physics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L 3G1

  3. 3

    Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6

*Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 NOV 2009
  2. Article first published online: 20 NOV 2009

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Keywords:

  • clay;
  • gas-phase polymerization;
  • montmorillonite;
  • metallocene catalysts;
  • nanocomposites;
  • polyethylene

Abstract

This investigation focuses on the mechanism of particle fragmentation and growth when clay-supported metallocene catalysts are used to polymerize ethylene in gas-phase reactors. We supported bis(cyclopentadienyl)-zirconium dichloride (Cp2ZrCl2) on montmorillonite (MMT) pretreated with triisobutylaluminum and 10-undecence-1-ol to produce in-situ polyethylene-clay nanocomposites. During gas phase polymerization, the MMT layers were exfoliated by the growing polymer chains, starting from the openings of the clay galleries. After microtoming, the cross-section of the fragmented MMT particles showed bundles of distorted silicate layer stacks, proving that exfoliation took place during polymerization, producing an in-situ polyethylene-clay nanocomposite. Calculations of d-spacing by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) matched those measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis.

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