Ethylene copolymers with Fischer-Tropsch olefins

The properties of ethylene copolymers, terpolymers and multipolymers prepared with even and uneven carbon number linear and branched α-olefins were compared. The most likely microstructures of ethylene/linear α-olefin copolymers was assigned by considering co-unit bulkiness, average crystallizable sequence lengths and thermal properties. The higher α-olefins were found to be more effective at decreasing density, but peak melting temperatures were higher. In terpolymers where lower α-olefins such as 1-butene and 1-pentene were used as comonomers, density was decreased more than the mathematical average expected from the ratio of comonomers in the terpolymers. Peak melting temperatures were also lower. Based on NMR evidence and the microstructures of the different copolymers the rationale for this occurrence could be ascribed to decreased clustering for these terpolymers. Branched α-olefins produced ethylene co- and terpolymers with significantly decreased densities as compared to the linear α-olefins. Impact strength of these polymers was also substantially higher, even at low comonomer content. Thermal evidence indicates that the microstructure of the co- and terpolymers containing branched α-olefins are very similar to that of the copolymers prepared with linear α-olefins of the same carbon number.