California Institute of Technology

Borealis Ag

Loughborough University

Teijin Aramid B.v.

Sara Ronca

Sanjay Rastogi

Giuseppe Forte

Julia A Kornfield

Esa Kokko

Irfan Saeed

Artemis Ailianou

Dario Romano

Mika Salo

Hendrik Tjaden

Hendrik Jacob Tjaden

A process for the preparation of an ultra-high molecular weight ethylene homopolymer having a MFRof 0.01 g/10 min or less, said process comprising:

Process for the preparation of an UHMWPE homopolymer

A process for the preparation of an ultra-high molecular weight ethylene homopolymer having a MFRof 0.01 g/10 min or less, said process comprising: (I) prepolymerising at least ethylene at a temperature of 0 to 90&#xb0; C. in the presence of a heterogeneous Ziegler Natta catalyst to prepare an ethylene prepolymer having an Mw of 40,000 to 600,000 g/mol; and thereafter in the presence of the prepolymer and said catalyst; (II) polymerising ethylene at a temperature of 55&#xb0; C. or less, such as 20 to 55&#xb0; C., to prepare said UHMW ethylene homopolymer; wherein the UHMW ethylene homopolymer comprises up to 8 wt. % of said prepolymer.

A method for controlling the physical state of an ultra-high molecular weight polymer to make the ultra-high molecular weight polymer suitable for further processing, and related polymers compositions methods and systems, wherein the method comprises combining a catalyst, monomers, and an additive, for a time and under condition to allow synthesis of a nascent polymer and co-crystallization of the nascent polymer with the additive.

Methods and systems for synthesis of an ultra high molecular weight polymer

The present invention pertains to a polyethylene polymer characterized by the following properties: A number average molecular weight Mn of at least 2.0*10g/mol, a weight average molecular weight of at least 2.0*10g/mol, a Mw/Mn ratio of above 6, and a strain hardening slope of below 0.10 N/mm at 135&#xb0; C. It has been found that a polymer with these properties have be converted through solid state processing into films and fibers with good properties. A solid state processing process, films and fibers, and their use are also claimed.

High molecular weight polyethylene

Growing community of inventors

Loughborough, United Kingdom

Sara Ronca