Mamdouh Ahmed Al-Harthi

Effect of aluminium nitride on the properties of polyethylene obtained by In situ polymerization using Ni(II) diimine complex

Abstract

Crystallization analysis fractionation of poly(ethylene-co-styrene) produced by metallocene catalysts

Ethylene homo polymer and ethylene–styrene copolymers were synthesized using Cp2ZrCl2 (1)/methyl aluminoxane (MAO) and rac-silylene-bis (indenyl) zirconium dichloride (2)/MAO catalyst systems by varying styrene concentration and reaction conditions. Crystallization analysis fractionation (CRYSTAF), DSC, FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy were used for characterizing the synthesized polymers. Interestingly, styrene was able to increase the activity of 1/MAO and 2/MAO catalyst systems at low concentrations, but at higher concentrations the activity decreases. The 1/MAO system at low and high pressure was unable to incorporate styrene, and the final product was pure polyethylene. On the other hand, with 2/MAO polymerization of ethylene and styrene yielded copolymer containing both styrene and ethylene. Results obtained from CRYSTAF and DSC reveal that on using 1/MAO system at high pressure, the resulting polymer in the presence of styrene has similar crystallinity as the polymer produced without styrene. Using both 1/MAO at low pressure and 2/MAO leads to decrease in crystallinity with increase in styrene concentration, even though the former does not incorporate styrene.

Effect of Nanoparticles on Mechanical and Flame-retardant Properties of Polyether-Block-Polyamide Polymer Nanocomposites

ABSTRACT In this study, polyester elastomer-based thermoplastic (TPEE) nanocomposites were fabricated for flame-retardant applications. Small amounts of graphene and nanoclay were added to the nanocomposites to investigate their effects on the mechanical and thermal properties of the nanocomposites. The addition of a phosphorous flame-retardant additive resulted in a significant improvement of the Young’s modulus and thus yield stress in the synthesized nanocomposites as compared to those made with the virgin TPEE. There was no synergistic improvement in mechanical properties with the addition of graphene and nanoclay to the nanocomposites. However, thermal properties, mainly the heat deflection temperature and fire performance (UL-94 V0), were improved significantly by the addition of graphene and nanoclay and a synergistic effect was observed. Heat distortion temperature and thermogravimetric analysis were used to analyze the thermal properties of the nanocomposites. The UL-94 testing method was used to investigate the fire performance of the nanocomposites. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the polymer fracture surface morphology. The dispersion of the graphene and nanoclay particles was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy analysis. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT