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Morphology and packing behavior of model ethylene/propylene copolymers with precise methyl branch placement

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Abstract

The packing behavior of ethylene/propylene (E/P) copolymers with precise methyl group placement on every 15th and 21st chain carbon atom (denominated HP15 and HP21) was investigated. Lamellar morphology with lamella thicknesses by far exceeding the distance between side groups gives strong evidence that the crystals contain pendant methyl groups as defects. The packing of chains in the lattice requires that adjacent E/P copolymer molecules stagger thereby forming a triclinic lattice with a hexagonal subcell of methylene groups. Defects inside the crystalline region are concentrated in planes oblique to the chain stems. The relationship between subcell and unit cell seems to be a function of the thermal history of the copolymer involving transient states. The atactic structure leads to conformationally disordered crystals (Wunderlich’s CONDIS crystals) and enforces deviations from an all-trans stem conformation. These deviations shorten the chains and are stronger for HP15 than for HP21, a fact that has been supported by Raman spectroscopy performed on recrystallized samples of both materials. In fact, a Raman signature band found at 1,084 cm−1 for only HP15 indicates the presence of disordered chain conformations adjacent to singularities.

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Acknowledgment

Financial support by the National Science Foundation under grant Nr 98-06492, PI K.B.W., University of Florida, and by the Max Planck Research School on Polymer Materials Science is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung, Ackermannweg 10, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Günter Lieser & Gerhard Wegner

  2. The George and Josephine Butler Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611-7200, USA

    Jason A. Smith & Kenneth B. Wagener

Authors
  1. Günter Lieser
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  2. Gerhard Wegner
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  3. Jason A. Smith
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  4. Kenneth B. Wagener
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Correspondence to Günter Lieser.

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Dedicated to Professor Erhard W. Fischer on the occasion of his 75th birthday.

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Lieser, G., Wegner, G., Smith, J.A. et al. Morphology and packing behavior of model ethylene/propylene copolymers with precise methyl branch placement. Colloid Polym Sci 282, 773–781 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-004-1091-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-004-1091-6

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