TOPAS Advanced Polymers

Topas Topas Advanced Polymers, Inc. Ethene norbornene copolymers... 

R.D. Jester, Cycloolefin copolymer heat sealable films, US Patent 7288316, assigned to Topas Advanced Polymers, Inc. (Florence, KY), October 30, 2007. 

COC is often blended with other polyolefins. Manufacturers and trade names Topas Advanced Polymers Topas . 

Figure 7.61 Stress vs. strain at 23°C for several Topas Advanced Polymers Topas COC resins [6].

Figure 7.63 Shear modulus vs. temperature for Topas Advanced Polymers Topas COG resins [6].

TOPAS cyclic olefin copolymer. Topas Advanced Polymers 2006. 

The technology was transferred to Ticona (now TOPAS Advanced Polymers), which in 2000 started production of C2 with norbomene as TOPAS COC... 

The possibility of controlling the interanular wedge angle of ansa-metallocene catalysts and their resulting capability to also enchain olefins, which are otherwise not readily amenable to insertion polymerization, allows the productirMi of copolymers of ethene with cyclic olefins, in particular with norbomene or its substituted derivatives. Based on first observations in this regard [73, 74], ethene/ norbomene copolymers, e.g. with alternating microstmctures [75-77] and with excellent optical and barrier properties, are now commercially produced with ansa-metallocene catalysts by Topas Advanced Polymers (TOPAS ) [78] and by Mitsui Chemical (Apel) [79]. 

Ethylene/norbornene copolymers are presently available commercially from TOPAS Advanced Polymers, Inc., a company formed in 2006 after early development efforts by Hoechst AG and Mitsui Petrochemical. Hoechst initiated the commercialization of this cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) in 1990, and Mitsui Petrochemical became involved in evaluating the manufacture of these copolymers in a continuous pilot-scale operation in 1993. TOPAS Advanced Polymers, Inc., is a joint venture of Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd., and Polyplastics Co., Ltd., with headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and a United States subsidiary in Florence, Kentucky. The structure of this copolymer is shown in Figure 4.26. 

COC is a relatively new commercial polymer. Four commercial sources are available under the TOPAS , ApeF, Zeonor and Zeonex , and Arton product names, supplied by Topas Advanced Polymers, Mitsui Chemicals, Zeon Chemical and Japan Synthrtic Rubber. COC is a random copolymer of ethylene and norbomene. Norbomene is synthesized via Diels-Alder reaction of ethylene and cylopentadiene. Polymerization of ethylene and norbomene using metallocene catalysts produces cyclic olefin copolymer. Large bulky cyclic rings randomly distributed in a polyethylene backbone prevent crystallization of the ethylene, creating an amorphous morphology. 

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