The effect of macromolecular architecture of ethylene copolymers with multi-alkenylsilsesquioxane on morphological, rheological and dynamic mechanical behavior

Abstract The influence of the degree and the way of incorporation of multi-alkenylsilsesquioxane into the polymer chain on morphological, rheological and dynamic mechanical parameters were determined. It was found that POSS incorporated into the polymer chain was located outside the crystalline structure of lamella in amorphous phase. The incorporation of POSS-6-2 as a pendant group resulted in significant increase of separation of macromolecules. The key factor in rheological and dynamic mechanical behavior of copolymers turned out to be the way of POSS incorporation into the polymer chain. The incorporation of POSS into the polymer chain as a pendant group resulted in decreased relaxation time of reputation in comparison with PE. The glass transition temperature for E/POSS copolymers decreased with increasing POSS content and increasing gel number due to the decrease of the crystallinity degree which affected mechanical parameters such as molecular weight between crosslinks, crosslink density and coefficient parameter.