Process for producing a polyethylene composition using molecular weight enlargement
AssigneeBorealis AG
InventorsCarl-Gustaf Ek, Denis Yalalov, Franz Ruemer, Mattias Bergqvist
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a process for producing a polyethylene composition by treating a cross-linkable ethylene copolymer containing monomer units with hydrolysable silane-groups and polar monomer units. The invention further provides a treated cross-linkable polyethylene composition obtained by the process and a silane-crosslinked polyethylene composition obtained by the process. The invention further provides articles comprising the treated cross-linkable polyethylene composition or comprising the silane-crosslinked polyethylene composition.
Claims15
A polyethylene composition comprising a treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) made by a process comprising:
- a) providing a cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) having a first MFR2, comprising
- (A1) monomer units with hydrolysable silane-groups, and
- (A2) polar monomer units,
- b) adding a free radical generator (B) in an amount of from 0.01 to 1 wt. % to the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A),
- c) treating the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) with the free radical generator (B) to obtain a treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) having a second MFR2,
- wherein the second MFR2 is lower than the first MFR2, and wherein the first MFR2 of the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) is from 10 to 100 g/10 min and/or the second MFR2 of the treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer (A) composition is from 0.1 to 10 g/10 min.
A silane-crosslinked polyethylene composition made by a process comprising:
- a) providing a cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) having a first MFR2, comprising
- (A1) monomer units with hydrolysable silane-groups, and
- (A2) polar monomer units,
- b) adding a free radical generator (B) in an amount of from 0.01 to 1 wt. % to the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A),
- c) treating the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) with the free radical generator (B) to obtain a treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) having a second MFR2,
- wherein the second MFR2 is lower than the first MFR2, and wherein the first MFR2 of the cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A) is from 10 to 100 g/10 min and/or the second MFR2 of the treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer (A) composition is from 0.1 to 10 g/10 min;
- d) adding a silanol condensation catalyst (D) to a polyethylene composition comprising the treated cross-linkable ethylene copolymer composition (A), and
- e) silane-crosslinking the polyethylene composition in the presence of the silanol condensation catalyst (D) to obtain the silane-crosslinked polyethylene composition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.