Xiao Gui, Ying Liu, Shijia Wang, Qishun Guo, Xinpeng Xing, Wei Liu, Tao Jiang, Bing Yan
{"title":"Advanced Polyethylene Wax via Zinc-Enhanced Metallocene Catalysis: Insights Into Molecular Weight Regulation Mechanisms","authors":"Xiao Gui, Ying Liu, Shijia Wang, Qishun Guo, Xinpeng Xing, Wei Liu, Tao Jiang, Bing Yan","doi":"10.1002/mren.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mren.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>High-end polyethylene wax (PE-WAX) synthesized via ethylene polymerization is increasingly demanded for its superior physicochemical properties. Precise regulation of molecular weight and microstructure by metallocene catalysts remains a critical research focus. Herein, eight structurally distinct metallocene catalysts are systematically evaluated, with three optimal systems (M3, M4, M8) selected based on structure-activity relationships. Zinc-mediated chain transfer mechanisms and process optimization (Zn/Zr ratios, catalyst loading, temperature, pressure) are investigated through integrated experimental and density functional theory (DFT) studies. ZnEt<sub>2</sub> addition effectively reduces molecular weights to the PE-WAX range (1000–10 000 g/mol), while revealing catalyst-dependent sensitivities: M8 demonstrates exceptional zinc responsiveness due to optimal electronic-steric synergy (smallest HOMO(Catalyst)–LUMO(ZnEt<sub>2</sub>) gap ΔE = 0.094 eV, longest Zr-C bond = 2.30 Å, shortest Zn-C distance = 4.84 Å), enabling efficient chain transfer. Pressure exerts significant control over molecular weight (M8: 7.8 × 10<sup>3</sup>–2.26 × 10<sup>4</sup> g/mol) and branching density (1.3–9.1/1000C). DFT calculations confirm reduced kinetic barriers originate from synergistic electronic effects and spatial accessibility, establishing M8 as the premier catalyst for tunable PE-WAX production.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":18052,"journal":{"name":"Macromolecular Reaction Engineering","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146256557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Chemical Modification of Graphite with Dopamine and Silane to Enhance Tribological Properties of PEK-C Matrix Composite Material","authors":"Zengwen Cao, Yu Zhang, Xin wang, Honge Fu, Guowei Jiang, Wencui Li","doi":"10.1002/mren.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mren.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The compatibility between PEK-C and graphite has a significant impact on the ultimate composites performance. In this work, an effective and low-cost technique, combing bio-inspired dopamine polymerization and silane coupling agents grafting, was presented to improve the interfacial strength of graphite with PEK-C. As a result, the bonding strength of the composite was obviously superior to that of the non-treated and polydopamine-coated only, which was confirmed by SEM, DHR, and DSC experiments. Other characterizations indicated that the chemically modified graphite played the role of a toughening agent to improve the toughness of PEK-C/ graphite composites. Moreover, friction tests also displayed that the modified PEK-C/graphite composites exhibited enhanced tribological properties under different test conditions. When the linear velocity was 2.24 m/s, the dry friction coefficient of CS-6 was 0.1757, which was about 42% lower than the friction coefficient of the pure graphite-filled composite. In addition, the mass wear ratio of CS-6 composite was 0.054 wt.% under dry friction, which was 74% lower than CS-3. To sum up, the research not only proved the importance of interfacial strength to the frictional properties but also proposed a method to modify the interfacial interaction force of composites.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":18052,"journal":{"name":"Macromolecular Reaction Engineering","volume":"19 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145779363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Johanna Viernickel, Felix Warnecke, Timo Melchin, Kristina Maria Zentel
{"title":"Emulsion Polymerizations in a High-Pressure Semi-Batch Reactor – Sampling and Effect of Pressure","authors":"Johanna Viernickel, Felix Warnecke, Timo Melchin, Kristina Maria Zentel","doi":"10.1002/mren.70000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/mren.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A sampling system for sampling from pressurized emulsion polymerizations is developed. It is designed for safe and reproducible sampling from a laboratory scale semi-batch autoclave reactor. The focus of the sampling system is sampling small volumes of 2–3 mL of representative emulsions at high pressures with proper cleaning in-between sampling. The quality of the samples is validated experimentally by comparison of samples taken at low pressure with and without sampling system. Validation is performed regarding solid content and particle size. Experimental errors are estimated by repeating the identical experiment three times. Additionally, the functionality of the sampling system is confirmed at pressures up to 190 bar. The collected data for polymerizations at high pressure are evaluated regarding the influence of nitrogen pressure on polymerization course as well as the resulting latexes. However, no significant effect is observed.</p>","PeriodicalId":18052,"journal":{"name":"Macromolecular Reaction Engineering","volume":"19 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/mren.70000","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145296905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}