THE POLYMERIZATION OF 1-BUTENE BY TiCl3–Al(i-Bu)3 CATALYSTS

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Abstract
An investigation has been made of the polymerization of 1-butene by TiCl3–Al(i-Bu)3 catalysts in heptane solution at 40 °C. The polymerization curve has two segments covering initial and steady-state periods at which the rate increases several fold. The change in rate, which occurs after the formation of a constant amount of polymer for a given concentration of TiCl3, is interpreted as an increase in surface area due to breakdown of the catalyst particles. For the steady-state period, it has been shown that the rate of polymerization is proportional to the monomer and titanium trichloride concentrations and approaches a constant value as the aluminum triisobutyl concentration increases.The intrinsic viscosity of the bulk polymer and the crystallinity, as determined by infrared analysis, were found to be essentially independent of the concentrations of the catalyst components and the extent of polymerization.The results are considered in terms of current theories on the mechanism of heterogeneous polymerization.