Method of making interpolymers and products made therefrom

A process of making an olefin polymer, comprising:

• contacting one or more olefinic monomers in the presence of at least a high molecular weight catalyst and at least a low molecular weight catalyst in a single reactor, the high molecular weight catalyst having a reactivity ratio r1H and the low molecular weight catalyst having a reactivity ratio r1L;
• and
• effectuating the polymerization of the olefinic monomers in the reactor to obtain an olefin polymer,
• wherein each of r1H and r1L is about 18 or less, and r1H/r1L, is between about 0.2 to about 5.

A process of making an olefin polymer, comprising:

• contacting one or more olefinic monomers in the presence of at least a high molecular weight catalyst and at least a low molecular weight catalyst in a single reactor, the high molecular weight catalyst having a reactivity ratio r1H and the low molecular weight catalyst having a reactivity ratio r1L;
• and
• effectuating the polymerization of the olefinic monomers in the reactor to obtain an olefin polymer characterized by a Rv as defined in the following:
• R
• v
• =
• [
• vinyl
• ]
• [
• vinyl
• ]
• +
• [
• vinylidene
• ]
• +
• [
• cis
• ]
• +
• [
• trans
• ]
• wherein [vinyl] is the concentration of vinyl groups in the olefin polymer expressed in vinyls/1,000 carbon atoms;
• [vinylidene], [cis] and [trans] are the concentration of vinylidene, cis and trans groups in the olefin polymer expressed in the number of the respective groups per 1,000 carbon atoms,
• wherein each of r1H and r1L is about 18 or less, and Rv is about 0.12 or higher.

A process for producing a C2-20 olefin homopolymer or interpolymer, comprising:

• providing controlled addition of a low molecular weight catalyst to a reactor;
• providing controlled addition of a high molecular weight catalyst to the reactor, the low molecular weight and high molecular weight catalysts having substantially similar comonomer incorporation ability;
• continuously feeding one or more C2-20 olefins into the reactor;
• continuously feeding the low molecular weight catalyst into the reactor at a fixed rate;
• continuously feeding the high molecular weight catalyst into the reactor at a rate sufficient to produce a polymer, wherein the ratio of the molecular weight of the polymer produced by the high molecular weight catalyst to the molecular weight of the polymer produced by the low molecular weight catalyst, MwH/MwL in the range from about 1.5 to about 15;
• and
• recovering the polymer product.

A process for producing a C2-20 olefin homopolymer or interpolymer with a target melt index, comprising:

• providing controlled addition of a low molecular weight catalyst to a reactor;
• providing controlled addition of a high molecular weight catalyst to the reactor, the low molecular weight and high molecular weight catalysts having substantially similar comonomer incorporation ability;
• continuously feeding one or more C2-20 olefins into the reactor;
• continuously feeding the low molecular weight catalyst into the reactor at a rate to produce a polymer with a melt index equal to or greater than about two times the target melt index;
• adjusting the melt index of the polymer by continuously feeding the high molecular weight catalyst into the reactor to produce a polymer product with the target melt index, wherein the ratio of the molecular weight of the polymer produced by the high molecular weight catalyst to the molecular weight of the polymer produced by the low molecular weight catalyst, MwH/MwL, is in the range from about 1.5 to about 15;
• and
• recovering the polymer product.

A process for producing an ethylene polymer, comprising:

• contacting ethylene and optionally one or more comonomers in the presence of at least a high molecular weight catalyst and at least a low molecular weight catalyst in a single reactor;
• and
• effectuating the polymerization of the ethylene and the optional comonomers in the reactor to obtain an ethylene polymer,
• wherein the high molecular weight catalyst and the low molecular weight catalyst have the ability to incorporate a substantially similar amount of comonomers in the polymer,
• wherein the high molecular weight catalyst is capable of producing a polymer with a high molecular weight MwH from the monomers under selected polymerization conditions, and the low molecular weight catalyst is capable of producing a polymer with a low molecular weight MwL from the same monomers under substantially the same polymerization conditions, where MwH/MwL is between about 1.5 and about 10.