Polyethylene copolymers and products and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11787885-B2
Application number	US-202217729493-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2022
Priority date	Oct 4, 2019
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

A polymer composition may include a polymer produced from ethylene, one or more branched vinyl ester monomers, and optionally, vinyl acetate; wherein the polymer has a number average molecular weight ranging from 5 to 10,000 kDa, and a molecular weight distribution ranging from 1 to 60, obtained by GPC.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method of making a polymer, comprising:
polymerizing ethylene, one or more branched vinyl ester monomers and optionally, vinyl acetate;
wherein the polymer has a number average molecular weight ranging from 5 to 10,000 kDa, and a molecular weight distribution ranging from 1.5 to 60, obtained by GPC.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization is conducted under conditions comprising a reactor pressure of greater than 40 bar and a reactor temperature of greater than 50° C.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization is conducted under conditions comprising a reactor pressure of greater than 1000 bar and a reactor temperature of greater than 50° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization comprises initiators for free-radical polymerization in an amount from about 0.000001 to about 5 wt % calculated by weight of the total polymerization mixture.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization further comprises an inert solvent selected from the group consisting of tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, dichloromethane, dimethyl sulfoxide, dimethyl carbonate, hexane, cyclohexane, ethyl acetate, acetonitrile, toluene, xylene, ether, dioxane, dimethyl-formamide, benzene, acetone, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more branched vinyl ester monomers have a general structure (II):

wherein R 4 and R 5 have a combined carbon number of 7.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer is a copolymer consisting of ethylene, the one or more branched vinyl ester.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer has a vinyl branched vinyl ester content ranging from 0.01 to 90 wt %.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer is a terpolymer consisting of ethylene, the one or more branched vinyl ester and vinyl acetate.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer has a vinyl acetate content ranging from 0.01 to 89.99 wt %.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer has an ethylene content ranging from 10 to 99.99 wt %.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a long chain branching frequency ranges from 0 to 10, as measured by GPC.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a long chain branching content ranges from 0 to 10, as measured by 13 CNMR.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein a melting temperature of the polymer, according to ASTM D3418, ranges from 0 to 150° C.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein a crystallization temperature of the polymer, according to ASTM D3418, ranges from 0 to 150° C.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein a heat of crystallization, according to ASTM D3418, ranges from 0 to 280 J/g.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer has a heat flow versus temperature curve, measured by thermal fractionation by successive self-nucleation and annealing with 10° C. steps, that has 0 to 20 minimums.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the minimums are in a temperature range of 0 to 150° C.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a first weight loss, between 250 to 400° C., relative to a total comonomer content, ranges from 0 to 2.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer has a storage modulus at 0° C. ranging from 0.1 MPa to 10 GPa.

Assignees

• Braskem Sa

Inventors

• Hanlon Ashley
• Mohammadi Hadi
• Domingues Junior Nei Sebastião
• Simanke Adriane Gomes
• Cangussu Manoela Ellwanger
• Busch Markus
• Hintenlang Sascha

Classifications

• C08F210/02 Primary

  Ethene · CPC title

• C08F218/08

  Vinyl acetate · CPC title

• C08F218/10

  of monocarboxylic acids containing three or more carbon atoms · CPC title

• C08F216/36

  by a ketonic radical · CPC title