Pe/clay nanocomposites produced by in situ polymerization with zirconocene catalyst

Abstract

Polyethylene is the synthetic polymer that has been the most useful and widely used because of their light weight, low cost, and good processability. However, polyethylene properties have some restriction on its use such as mechanical and thermal properties. Therefore, improving the polyethylene properties is important. The addition of additive into polymer is commonly used to improve polymer properties, especially, nano-sized additives. The polymer with the addition of nano-sized additive is called polymer nanocomposite. Preparation of polymer nanocomposite via in situ polymerization results in well dispersion of additive in the polymer due to direct interaction between catalyst and nanoclay. In this research, the effect of nanoclay on catalyst activity and polyethylene properties which produced via in situ polymerization was investigated. Three variables in this research are types of nanoclay (TOB_2 and TOB_3), amount of nanoclay (5, 10, 20, and 40 % wt), and aging time between nanoclay and methylaluminoxane cocatalyst (30, 60, 90, and 120 min). It found that TOB_2 gives higher catalyst activity than TOB_3. Catalyst activities can be decreased with increasing amount of nanoclay. The addition of 5 % by weight of clay resulted in maximal thermal properties and crystallization. Increasing the aging time result in catalyst activity slightly decreased.