(51b) Polyolefin Molecular Structure – Bulk Property Correlation Development Strategies for Industrial Applicability

Polyolefins occupy a significant volume of the polymer products portfolio in both, commodity and higher value applications. Development in product performance should enable growth in strategic and new markets. Quantifying and optimizing structure-property relationships forms a key task of this process. It is well recognized that coupling lab-based, comprehensive methodologies with scalable, bulk properties of interest to industrial and market environments offer the greatest potential of technology advancement, ultimately leading to commercial success. Instances of current techniques making this connection effectively are far and few between.

As part of this endeavor, it is imperative to recognize the existing gap in terms of knowledge translation between lab measurements and industrial-scale operability. Progressing further, concurrent studies on techniques such as flow-induced crystallization establishes that choice of appropriate compositions have conferred higher crystallization while maintaining processability. Effects of additives on commercially relevant parameters such as throughput show improvements corroborating equivalent performance compared to current state of the art. Furthermore, knowledge from key perspectives such as currently available products, areas for improvement, and market development are requisite to enable decision making on current and upcoming opportunities.

To summarize, the effort highlights academically well-recognized pathways such as controlled molecular weight distribution, orientation, crystallization as generic platforms to comprehend melt characteristics as well as solid-state properties with likely implications across myriad markets. Ultimately, this may serve as a pathway for producing innovative products that deliver business success and growth.