A. Nesarikar et al., LIQUID-LIQUID PHASE-SEPARATION IN LINEAR LOW-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE, Journal of polymer science. Part B, Polymer physics, 32(4), 1994, pp. 641-646
The issue of multiple equilibrium phases in compositionally heterogene
ous random copolymers is studied with an ethylene-butene copolymer rep
resentative of many linear low-density polyethylenes (LLDPE). This mat
erial has a dispersed minority phase (volume fraction f(beta) almost-e
qual-to 0.02) of highly branched, amorphous chains. A thermodynamic ca
lculation of the equilibrium liquid state is done using the distributi
on of chain branching from temperature rising elution fractionation an
d the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter chi(AB) for linear and ethyl
branched C4H8 repeat units. The calculation indicates that this copol
ymer is metastable, between the binodal and spinodal at a melt tempera
ture of 150-degrees-C. The predicted volume fraction of the second pha
se, f(beta) = 0.016, is in good agreement with experiment. This work i
s the first to compare directly the observed and calculated two-phase
behaviors in a random copolymer. (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.