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Facile preparation of bimodal polyethylene with tunable molecular weight distribution from ethylene polymerization catalyzed by binary catalytic system in the presence of diethyl zinc

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Abstract

This contribution reported a facile approach to bimodal polyethylene (BMPE) with a consecutively tunable molecular weight distribution (MWD). The BMPEs were synthesized from ethylene polymerization catalyzed by α-diimine Ni complex/rac-ethylenebis(indenyl) zirconium chloride (rac-Et(Ind)2ZrCl2)/MAO in the presence of diethyl zinc (ZnEt2). From GPC results, PE samples with molecular weight (MW) ranging from 78.9 kg/mol to 1.5 kg/mol and PDI varying gradually from 2.5 to 12.7 were obtained via simply adjusting the equiv. of ZnEt2. The combination of Soxhlet extraction and GPC analysis indicated that the obtained BMPEs consist of soluble fractions with higher molecular weights and residual fractions with lower molecular weights. The crystallization processes and crystal morphologies of the BMPEs were recorded by polarized optical microscope (POM). Additionally, the influence of the obtained BMPE on the mechanical properties of commercial high density polyethylene (HDPE) after melt blending was studied via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Project of Science and Technology of Zhejiang Province (No.2008C14089), Guiding Fund of Oceanic Interdisciplinary Research of Zhejiang University (2012HY002B), Science and Technology Innovation Team of Ningbo (2011B82002), International Science and Technology of Cooperation Project of Ministry Science and Technology of China (2009 DFR40640), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21072175) and National Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (24100291) for financial supports.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Yulai Zhao, Li Wang, Haojie Yu, Guanghui Jing, Chao Li, Yongsheng Chen & Muhammad Saleem

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  1. Yulai Zhao
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  2. Li Wang
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  3. Haojie Yu
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Correspondence to Li Wang or Haojie Yu.

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Zhao, Y., Wang, L., Yu, H. et al. Facile preparation of bimodal polyethylene with tunable molecular weight distribution from ethylene polymerization catalyzed by binary catalytic system in the presence of diethyl zinc. J Polym Res 21, 470 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-014-0470-z

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