Ethylene copolymers

• US 4,205,021 A
• Filed: 01/18/1978
• Issued: 05/27/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd.
• Inventors: Inoue, Hiroshi, Morita, Yoshinori, Fujiyoshi, Kenji
• Primary Examiner(s): Levin, Stanford M.
• Application Number:
  US05/870,365
• Time in Patent Office: 860 Days
• Field of Search: 526/348.2, 526/348.3, 526/348.4, 526/348.5, 526/348.6, 526/125, 260/897 A
• US Class Current: 525/240
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 210/14 Monomers containing five or more carbon atoms
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 210/16 Copolymers of ethene with alpha-alkenes, e.g. EP rubbers
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 2500/09 Long chain branches
• CPC Class Codes: C08F 2500/17 Viscosity

Abstract

A copolymer consisting essentially of ethylene and an α-olefin with 5 to 18 carbon atoms, said copolymer having

(i) a density of 0.90 to 0.94 g/cm³,

(ii) an intrinsic viscosity [η] of 0.8 to 4.0 dl/g,

(iii) a maximum melting point, determined by differential thermal analysis, of 115° to 130° C., and

(iv) a g.sub.η *(=[η]/[η]_l) value of 0.05 to 0.78, in which formula [η] is the intrinsic viscosity of the copolymer and [η]_l is the intrinsic viscosity of a linear polyethylene having the same weight average molecular weight determined by the light scattering method as said copolymer.

Claims

1. A copolymer consisting essentially of ethylene and an α

-olefin with 5 to 18 carbon atoms, said copolymer having

(i) a density of 0.90 to 0.94 g/cm³,

(ii) an intrinsic viscosity [η

] of 0.8 to 4.0 dl/g,

(iii) a maximum melting point, determined by differential thermal analysis, of 115°

to 130°

C., and

(iv) a g.sub.η

*(=[η

]/[η

]_l) value of 0.05 to 0.78, in which formula [η

] is the intrinsic viscosity of the copolymer and [η

]_l is the intrinsic viscosity of a linear polyethylene having the same weight average molecular weight determined by the light scattering method as said copolymer.

2. The copolymer of claim 1 which has (v) an average spherulite size, determined by the small angle laser scattering method, of not more than 6μ

.

3. The copolymer of claim 1 which has (vi) two or more melting points determined by differential thermal analysis.

4. The copolymer of claim 1 which has (vii) a standard deviation (σ

) of the distribution of ethylene content of not more than 3 mole%.

5. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the g.sub.η

* value is 0.05 to 0.5.

6. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the α

-olefin has 6 to 12 carbon atoms.

7. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the α

-olefin is at least one member selected from the group consisting of 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-dodecene, 1-tetradecene, 1-octadecene, 3-methyl-1-butene, 3-methyl-1-pentene, 3-methyl-1-hexene, 4-methyl-1-hexene, 5-methyl-1-hexene, 3-methyl-1-heptene and 5-methyl-1-heptene.

8. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the density is 0.91 to 0.935 g/cm³.

9. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the intrinsic viscosity is 1.0 to 3.0 dl/g.

10. A composition comprising a blend of the copolymer of claim 1 with polyethylene.

11. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the comonomer is 4-methyl-1-pentene or a mixture of 4-methyl-1-pentene and at least one member selected from the group consisting of 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-dodecene, 1-tetradecene, 1-octadecene, 3-methyl-1-butene, 3-methyl-1-pentene, 3-methyl-1-hexene, 4-methyl-1-hexene, 5-methyl-1-hexene, 3-methyl-1-heptene and 5-methyl-1-heptene.

12. The copolymer of claim 1 wherein the comonomer is 4-methyl-pentene-1.