Synthesis of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene: A differentiate material for specialty applications

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• 作者：Sudhakar Padmanabhan ; Krishna R. Sarma ; Kishor Rupak ; Shashikant Sharma
• 关键词：UHMWPE ; Mg-Ti catalyst ; Particle size distribution ; Bulk density ; Average particle size ; Entanglement ; Morphology
• 刊名：Materials Science and Engineering: B
• 出版年：2010
• 出版时间：15 April 2010
• 年：2010
• 卷：168
• 期：1-3
• 页码：132-135
• 全文大小：511 K

文摘

Tailoring the synthesis of a suitable Ziegler-Natta (ZN) catalyst coupled with optimized polymerization conditions using a suitable activator holds the key for an array of differentiated polymers with diverse and unique properties. Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is one such polymer which we have synthesized using TiCl₄ anchored on MgCl₂ as the support and activated using AlRR′₂ (where R, R′ = iso-prenyl or isobutyl) under specific conditions. Here in we have accomplished a process for synthesizing UHMWPE in hydrocarbon as the medium with molecular weights ranging from 5 to 10 million g/mole. The differentiated polymers exhibited the desired properties such as particle size distribution (PSD), average particle size (APS), bulk density (BD) and molecular weight (MW) with controlled amount of fine and coarse particles. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) reflected the material to have uniform particle size distribution with a spherical morphology. The extent of entanglement was determined from thermal studies and it was found to be highly entangled.