Thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of metallocene polyethylene

A comprehensive study has been made of a metallocene polyethylene (m-PE) ch aracterising the isothermal crystallisation kinetics, melting and crystalli sation behaviour, crystal growth and dynamic mechanical properties in order to understand the relationship between molecular structure and mechanical properties of this new class of polyethylene. The melting behaviour after s tep-wise crystallisation showed that m-PE consisted of molecular fractions with different molecular weight and branch distribution. Dynamic mechanical property studies showed that three transitions existed in m-PE with the al pha -transition increasing in intensity and shifting to higher temperatures in samples crystallised at higher temperature compared with rapidly cooled samples. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.