Thermal and dynamic mechanical behavior of ethylene/norbornene copolymers with medium norbornene contents

Abstract

Abstract A range of ethylene/norbornene copolymers were synthesized using the commercially available rac ‐Et(Ind) 2 ZrCl 2 metallocene catalyst. A large window of norbornene contents, between 30 and 55 mol % was used to facilitate the interpretation of the results. The polymers were characterized by means of wide‐angle X‐ray scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The X‐ray diffractograms showed two amorphous halos, the low‐angle one increasing in the intensity with norbornene content. Calorimetric and dynamic mechanical results led to a linear relation between the glass transition temperature and the norbornene content. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 2159–2165, 2001