One pot synthesis of bimodal UHMWPE/HDPE in-reactor blends with Cr/V bimetallic catalysts

Bimodal ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) in-reactor blends (IRBs) are produced by the bimetallic catalysts, which are synthesized through co-supporting silylchromate and vanadium-oxide-based catalysts on silica or alumina, zirconia and titania-modified silica. After support modification, the activities of the catalysts for ethylene polymerization are substantially enhanced. The IRBs produced by the modified catalysts also contain more UHMWPE and low-molecular-weight polyethylene (LMWPE) fractions, and have much broader molecular weight distribution (MWD). The homogeneous nature of the IRBs is preliminarily confirmed by the differential scanning calorimetry melting curves, showing unique melting peak in both nascent and recrystallized states. The rheological results reflect that the viscosity of the IRBs is reduced more or less when compared with UHMWPE. The distinct elastic dominance of the IRBs is also observed, implying the UHMWPE characteristics in the IRBs. In addition, the intimate mixing of the IRBs is further verified by the similar slopes of Han curves for the polyethylene (PE) samples. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 3404–3412