Print: | ISSN 0256-1115 |
Online: | ISSN 1975-7220 |
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering,
Vol.24, No.3, 403-407, 2007 Effect of cocatalyst on the chemical composition distribution and microstructure of ethylene-hexene copolymer produced by a metallocene/Ziegler-Natta hybrid catalyst
A silica-magnesium bisupport (SMB) was prepared by a sol-gel method for use as a support for metallocene/Ziegler-Natta hybrid catalyst. The SMB was treated with methylaluminoxane (MAO) prior to the immobilization of TiCl4 and rac-Et(Ind)2ZrCl2. The prepared rac-Et(Ind)2ZrCl2/TiCl4/MAO/SMB catalyst was applied to the ethylenehexene copolymerization with a variation of cocatalyst species (polymerization run 1: triisobutylaluminum (TIBAL) and methylaluminoxane (MAO), polymerization run 2: triethylaluminum (TEA) and methylaluminoxane (MAO)). The effect of cocatalysts on the chemical composition distributions (CCDs) and microstructures of ethylene-hexene copolymers was examined. It was found that the catalytic activity in polymerization run 1 was a little higher than that in polymerization run 2, because of the enhanced catalytic activity at the initial stage in polymerization run 1. The chemical composition distributions (CCDs) in the two copolymers showed six peaks and exhibited a similar trend. However, the lamellas in the ethylene-hexene copolymer produced in polymerization run 1 were distributed over smaller sizes than those in the copolymer produced in polymerization run 2. It was also revealed that the rac-Et(Ind)2ZrCl2/TiCl4/MAO/SMB catalyst preferably produced the ethylene-hexene copolymer with non-blocky sequence when TEA and
MAO were used as cocatalysts.
Keywords:
Metallocene/Ziegler-Natta Hybrid Catalyst; Ethylene-Hexene Copolymer; Chemical Composition Distribution (CCD); Microstructure; Cocatalyst
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