Novel preparation of polyethylene from nano-extrusion polymerization inside the nanochannels of MCM-41/MgCl2/TiCl4 catalysts

The MCM-41 and SiO2 supported TiCl4 and TiCl4/MgCl2 catalysts with different molar ratios of Mg/Ti were synthesized and used for ethylene polymerization under atmospheric pressure. The nanochannels of MCM-41 serve as nanoscale polymerization reactor and the polyethylene nanofibers were extruded during the reaction. The nanofibers were observed in SEM micrographs of resulting polyethylene. The effect of MgCl2 on catalytic activity and thermal properties of resulting polyethylene is investigated too. In the presence of MgCl2, the catalytic activity increased and more crystalline polyethylene with higher melting points were formed. However, no fibers could be observed in the polyethylene prepared by SiO2 supported catalysts.