Jacquelyn A. Degroot

New Polyethylenes for Targeted Performance Based Applications

Homogeneous polymers produced from “single-site” catalyst technology have induced significant changes on the future of industrial production of ethylene/α-olefin copolymers. In combination with the appropriate polymerization process, the impact could be dramatic. For example, the unique characteristics of Dows solution process, when combined with constrained geometry catalyst, CGC, technology lead naturally to unprecedented control of both the molecular weight distribution, MWD, and the short chain branching distribution, SCBD, of the copolymers. In addition, Dows INSITE™ catalyst technology allows the controlled incorporation of long chain branching, LCB, into the copolymerization products. Product designs can therefore rely upon all the known molecular design strategies (MW, MWD, SCBD, and LCB) to obtain a high degree of structural specificity for the desired polymer product. Dow will soon commercialize a broad range of new polyethylene products, or Enhanced Polyethylenes, EPE, that rely on INSITE™ catalyst technology and are a natural extension of Dows existing solution process technology. Enhanced Polyethylenes are precisely designed and produced with a high degree of reproducibility for specific applications. The complete process/product technology package behind Enhanced Polyethylenes leads naturally to a few key polymer design concepts. These design concepts have been developed from a materials science understanding of the performance needs behind each targeted application, while giving careful consideration to the manufacturing capabilities of EPE solution process technology. Consequently, Enhanced Polyethylenes are a targeted performance-based portfolio of new products for a wide range of traditional LLDPE applications as well as new applications once thought to be outside of the range of polyethylene capability.