Elastomeric polypropylene

Research Associate, Amoco Chemical Company, Naperville, Illinois Polypropylene, atactic Polypropylene, elastomeric (stereoblock) Polypropylene, syndiotactic... 

The properties of elastomeric materials are also greatly iafluenced by the presence of strong interchain, ie, iatermolecular, forces which can result ia the formation of crystalline domains. Thus the elastomeric properties are those of an amorphous material having weak interchain iateractions and hence no crystallisation. At the other extreme of polymer properties are fiber-forming polymers, such as nylon, which when properly oriented lead to the formation of permanent, crystalline fibers. In between these two extremes is a whole range of polymers, from purely amorphous elastomers to partially crystalline plastics, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonates, etc. 

In principle, A can be any polymer normally regarded as a hard thermoplastic, eg, polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), or polypropylene, and B can be any polymer normally regarded as elastomeric, eg, polyisoprene, polybutadiene, polyisobutylene, or polydimethylsiloxane (Table 2). 

It is somewhat difficult conceptually to explain the recoverable high elasticity of these materials in terms of flexible polymer chains cross-linked into an open network structure as commonly envisaged for conventionally vulcanised rubbers. It is probably better to consider the deformation behaviour on a macro, rather than molecular, scale. One such model would envisage a three-dimensional mesh of polypropylene with elastomeric domains embedded within. On application of a stress both the open network of the hard phase and the elastomeric domains will be capable of deformation. On release of the stress, the cross-linked rubbery domains will try to recover their original shape and hence result in recovery from deformation of the blended object. 

Baum, R. Elastomeric Polypropylene Oscillating Catalyst Controls Microstructure, Chemical and Engineering News, Jan., 16, 1995, pp. 6-7. 

Montell Polyolefins Polypropylene HPPP, CPPP, Reinforced Polymers, Aesthetic Polymers, CP, HP, Olefinic Polymer Engineering Polymers, Elastomeric... 

Chattopadhyay S., Chaki T.K., and Bhowmick A.K., New thermoplastic elastomers from poly(ethyle-neoctene) (engage), poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) and low-density polyethylene by electron beam technology structural characterization and mechanical properties. Rubber Chem. TechnoL, 74, 815, 2001. Roy Choudhury N. and Dutta N.K., Thermoplastic elastomeric natural rubber-polypropylene blends with reference to interaction between the components. Advances in Polymer Blends and Alloys Technology, Vol. 5 (K. Finlayson, ed.), Technomic Publishers, Pensylvania, 1994, 161. 

Tullock C.W. et al.. Polyethylene and elastomeric polypropylene using alumina-supported bis(arene) titanium, zirconium, and hafnium catalysts, J. Polym. Sci, Part A, Polym. Chem., 27, 3063, 1989. Mueller G. and Rieger R., Propene based thermoplastic elastomers by early and late transition metal catalysis. Prog. Polym. Sci., 27, 815, 2002. 

Roy Choudhury N. and Bhowmick A.K., Adhesion between individual components and mechanical properties of natural rubber-polypropylene thermoplastic elastomeric blends, J. Adhes. Sci. Technol., 2(3), 167, 1988. 

Waymouth and coworkers reported a unique system where the unbridged bis(2-phenylindenyl)zirconium-based catalysts (129) gave elastomeric, isotactic-atactic stereoblock polypropylene, controlled by rotation of the 2-phenylindenyl as shown in Scheme VII [173]. 

Collins et al. reported in 1995 that catalysts based on hafnium are desirable for the production of elastomeric polypropylene in that they polymerize propylene to a high molecular weight polymer and are indefinitely stable under typical polymerization conditions [8], Based on the theory that hafnium as a catalytic center leads to a significant increase of molecular weight in propene polymerization compared with the zirconium-based catalyst, Rieger et al. searched for hafnocene systems to obtain polymers with new properties. 

Chien JCW, Babu GN, Newmark RA, Cheng HH, Llinas GH (1992) Microstructure of elastomeric polypropylenes obtained with nonsymmetric ansa-titanocene catalysts. Macromolecules 25 7400-7402... 

The surface complementarity between the quantum activated complex and the catalytic surrounding media is the main idea of the present theory. The oscillating stereochemical control of the synthesis of thermoplastic elastomeric polypropylene recently reported by Coates and Waymouth [208] can be easily interpreted in terms of catalyst changing surface complementarity. Hill and Zhang have discovered a molecular catalyst that experiences a kinetic and thermodynamic drive for its own reassembly and repair under conditions of catalysis [209]. This is basically what an enzyme does when moving from the apo-structure towards the catalytically apt conformation. 

G. W. Coates and R. M. Waymouth, Oscillating stereocontrol a strategy for the synthesis of thermoplastic elastomeric polypropylene. Science, 267, 217-219 (1995). 

Chauve et al. [253] utilized the same technique to examine the reinforcing effects of cellulose whiskers in EVA copolymer nanocomposites. It was shown that larger energy is needed to separate polar EVA copolymers from cellulose than for the nonpolar ethylene homopolymer. The elastomeric properties in the presence of spherical nanoparticles were studied by Sen et al. [254] utilizing Monte Carlo simulations on polypropylene matrix. They found that the presence of the nanofillers, due to their effect on chain conformation, significantly affected the elastomeric properties of nanocomposites. 

---