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Kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over titanium–magnesium catalysts with different structures and morphology

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Abstract

Establishing a relationship between structural characteristics of a catalyst system and morphology of polymer particles, on the one hand, and the kinetic characteristics of the catalysts in relation to the molecular weight of the resulting polymer on the other hand, is an important scientific task and has considerable applications. In this paper, for the first time, data on the formation of polyethylene particles with different molecular weights and different morphologies on two samples of highly active supported titanium–magnesium catalysts (TMC) having different textural characteristics (pore structure and crystallite size) are obtained. It is shown that this effect persists with varying polymerization conditions (polymerization temperature, the presence and absence of hydrogen as a polymer chain transfer agent) and titanium content in the catalyst. The discussion of possible causes of the revealed differences in molecular weight of the produced polymers is based on the kinetic data and morphological analysis of the polymer particles formed on TMCs with different structural characteristics and titanium contents. The formation of PE with different molecular weights over these catalysts may be related to different concentrations of ethylene in the subsurface layer of polymer near active sites of the catalysts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (project AAAA21-121011490008-3). The authors thank Alexandra Serkova for the SEM analysis of the samples, Marina Vanina and Elena Bessudnova for the analysis of molecular weight characteristics and DSC analysis of PE, and Tatiana Efimenko for the textural study of the PE samples.

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  1. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

    Tatiana B. Mikenas, Vladimir A. Zakharov & Mikhail A. Matsko

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  1. Tatiana B. Mikenas
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  2. Vladimir A. Zakharov
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  3. Mikhail A. Matsko
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Correspondence to Tatiana B. Mikenas.

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Mikenas, T.B., Zakharov, V.A. & Matsko, M.A. Kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over titanium–magnesium catalysts with different structures and morphology. Iran Polym J 31, 471–484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-01004-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13726-021-01004-w

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