US 11,981,798 B2
Rapidly moisture-curable polyethylene formulation
Bharat I. Chaudhary, Collegeville, PA (US); Sarat Munjal, Lake Jackson, TX (US); Rajesh P. Paradkar, Lake Jackson, TX (US); Arkady L. Krasovskiy, Lake Jackson, TX (US); Manish Talreja, Collegeville, PA (US); Manish K. Mundra, Collegeville, PA (US); Kevin P. Rogers, Jameson, PA (US); and Bruce M. Hasch, Lake Jackson, TX (US)
Assigned to Dow Global Technologies LLC, Midland, MI (US)
Appl. No. 17/442,991
Filed by Dow Global Technologies LLC, Midland, MI (US)
PCT Filed Feb. 11, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/017654
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 24, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/197654, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 1, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/823,889, filed on Mar. 26, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0153973 A1, May 19, 2022
Int. Cl. C08L 23/00 (2006.01); C08J 3/24 (2006.01); C08K 5/14 (2006.01); C08K 5/57 (2006.01); C08L 23/08 (2006.01)
CPC C08L 23/0892 (2013.01) [C08J 3/24 (2013.01); C08K 5/14 (2013.01); C08K 5/57 (2013.01); C08L 2203/202 (2013.01); C08L 2207/066 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
 
1. A moisture-curable polyethylene formulation comprising from 15 to 99.99 weight percent (wt %) of (A) a (hydrolyzable silyl group)-functional polyethylene copolymer (HSG-FP Copolymer); from 0.01 to 5 wt % of (B) a condensation cure catalyst; and from 0 to 84.99 wt % of one or more optional additives; with the proviso that when (B) is only a dialkyltin dicarboxylate, the dialkyltin dicarboxylate is at least 0.10 wt % and the (A) HSG-FP Copolymer is at most 99.90 wt % of the moisture-curable polyethylene formulation; wherein all wt % are based on total weight and add to 100.00 wt % of the moisture-curable polyethylene formulation; and wherein the (A) HSG-FP Copolymer is made by copolymerizing ethylene, at least one alkenyl-functional hydrolyzable silane, optionally propylene, the copolymerizing being done under effective process conditions in a high-pressure-and-temperature (HPT) reactor free of a metal-containing olefin polymerization catalyst and containing an organic peroxide and the copolymerizing is free of an optional olefinic comonomer selected from an olefinically-unsaturated carboxylic acid, an olefinically-unsaturated carboxylic ester, an olefinically-unsaturated carboxylic anhydride, and combinations thereof and, optionally, a chain transfer agent (CTA) that is not propylene or a (C4-C20)alpha-olefin; and wherein the (A) HSG-FP Copolymer is characterized by a total hydrolyzable silyl group content from 0.38 to 0.99 mole percent (mol %) and a molecular mass dispersity of any one of limitations (i) to (iii): (i) a ratio of absolute z-average molecular weight to absolute weight-average molecular weight (Mz(abs)/Mw(abs) or absolute molecular mass dispersity) of 9.51 or greater; (ii) a ratio of absolute molecular mass dispersity to conventional molecular mass dispersity ((Mz(abs)/Mw(abs))/(Mw(conv)/Mn(conv)) of 1.51 or greater, wherein Mw(conv) is conventional weight-average molecular weight and Mn(conv) is conventional number-average molecular weight; and (iii) both (i) and (ii); wherein the (B) condensation cure catalyst comprises a dialkyltin dicarboxylate or a sulfonic acid of formula RSO3H wherein R is (C1-C10)alkyl, (C6-C10)aryl, a (C1-C10)alkylsubstituted (C6-C10)aryl, or a (C6-C10)aryl-substituted (C1-C10)alkyl.