Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of LLDPE prepared by in situ polymerization in the presence of nano titania

Research Trends in Carbon Chain Polymers and Their Derivatives: Highlighting the Decade-Long Research

Polyolefins include low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polybutylene (PB). Polyolefins offer unique characteristics such as chemical resistance, smooth surface, re-shapability, and are lighter than glass and metal-based materials. The global plastics industry produces polyolefin as their major product and these polyolefins are mostly used as commercial commodity plastics. Moreover, the characteristics of polyolefin can be further improved by forming their blends and/or composites and incorporating fillers. This review highlights the role of various fillers such as titanium dioixde-based, nitride-based, and carbon-based nanomaterials, in influencing polyolefin composites. Moreover, the contribution of layered double hydroxide in olefin polymerization, and the impact of filler properties such as filler content, filler type, filler phase stability, and synergistic effect between the fillers and polymers on nanocomposites are discussed.

Thermal Degradation Kinetics Analysis of Ethylene-Propylene Copolymer and EP-1-Hexene Terpolymer

LLDPE is a less crystalline polymer with vast industrial and domestic applications. It is imperative to understand the synthesis, processing conditions, and thermal degradation mechanism of the co- as well as terpolymers. This paper reports the in-situ synthesis and thermal degradation studies of the ethylene-propylene copolymer and ethylene-propylene-1-hexene terpolymer and its nanocomposite with ZnAL LDH sheets. The 1-hexene dosing during the in-situ process influenced the product yield and immensely affected the thermal stability of the resultant polymer. One milliliter 1-hexene in-situ addition increased the product yield by 170 percent, while the temperature at 10 percent weight loss in TGA was dropped by about 60 °C. While only 0.3 weight percent ZnAL LDH addition in the terpolymer improved the thermal stability by 10 °C. A master plot technique and combined kinetics analysis (CKA) were deployed to access the thermal degradation mechanism of the synthesized polymers.

Correlation between molecular weight and confined crystallization behavior of polymers grafted onto a zero-dimensional filler

In this work, polymer chains of different molecular weights are grafted onto a zero-dimensional filler.

Non-isothermal crystallization and thermal degradation kinetics of MXene/linear low-density polyethylene nanocomposites

A novel two-dimensional material MXene was used to synthesize nanocomposites with linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). The influence of MXene on crystallization and thermal degradation kinetics of LLDPE was investigated. Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics was investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The experimental data was analyzed by Jeziorny theory and the Mo method. It is found that MXene acted as a nucleating agent during the non-isothermal crystallization process, and 2 wt% MXene incorporated in the nanocomposites could accelerate the crystallization rate. Findings from activation energy calculation for non-isothermal crystallization came to the same conclusion. Thermal gravity (TG) analysis of MXene/LLDPE nanocomposites was conducted at different heating rates, and the TG thermograms suggested the nanocomposites showed an improvement in thermal stability. Apparent activation energy (Ea) of thermal degradation was calculated by the Kissinger method, and Ea values of nanocomposites were higher than that of pure LLDPE. The existence of MXene seems to lead to better thermal stability in composites.