Publication | Open Access
Optical methods to study the behaviour of supported metallocene catalysts during olefin polymerisation
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2005
Year
Optical MaterialsEngineeringPropylene OxideChemistryPolymersChemical EngineeringOlefin PolymerisationOptical PropertiesPolymer ChemistryPolyethylene Product ParticlesEthylene OxideMaterials SciencePolymer EngineeringOptical MethodsCatalysisPolymer AnalysisPolymer SciencePolymerization KineticsPolymer ReactionSupported Metallocene CatalystsPolymer Synthesis
Abstract It is demonstrated that modern optical methods allow for a very fast study of the behaviour of supported metallocene catalysts. By videomicroscopy several polymeric supports functionalised with cyclopentadiene units or poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) chains and loaded with a metallocene were simultaneously studied. In this example it is shown that this method allows for a direct comparison of different catalysts under identical conditions in a single experiment. In addition by this experiment more detailed information on the behaviour of the supports can be obtained by studying the growth kinetics of single grains. As a second tool, laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy (LSCFM) was applied. Using dye-labelled supports LSCFM can be used as a very rapid tool to study the fragmentation of supports. This is demonstrated by 3D images showing the distribution of different support fragments in the polyethylene product particles.