AbstractA quantitative test for the presence of gel (insoluble polymer) in polyethylene is described. A number of experiments were performed by using the test and on the polymers separated by the test. It is concluded that gel is crosslinked polyethylene in the form of discrete particles of significant size, the large ones, probably weighing up to at least 10 mg. Some crosslinks are broken by treatment with solvents above 200°C., and much of the gel is thus rendered permanently soluble. Gel is also insoluble in the reaction medium in which it is produced. Thus, even if the ethylene–polyethylene phase relationships would predict a homogeneous reaction, the reaction must be hetero‐geneous if gel is present. Therefore, kinetic treatments of ethylene polymerization which do not consider phase separation when gel is found in the reaction product are oversimpli
展开▼
