Strain-hardened isotactic polymers and uses thereof

Abstract

Provided are strain-hardened polymers. The polymers may include a plurality of polyether units (e.g., isotactic polypropylene oxide units) and one or more crystalline domains. The strain-hardened polymers may have a higher initial engineering yield stress and/or enthalpy of fusion than native polymer (e.g., polypropylene oxide that has not been strain-hardened). The strain-hardened polymers may be made by catalytic methods using bimetallic catalysts. Also provided are uses of the strain-hardened polymers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.