High temperature gel permeation chromatography

聚乙烯和聚丙烯是高吨位塑料，用于制造瓶子、杂货袋、包装薄膜、汽车零部件和其他一些应用。这些被称为聚烯烃的塑料因其多功能性、低成本和无毒性而非常重要。聚烯烃是多用途的，因为它们的分子可以改变，使产品具有不同的应用性能。通过改变聚乙烯分子大小的分布（正式称为分子量分布- MWD），有可能制造出从蜡（小分子）到非常坚固的材料（如用于制造燃气管道的材料）的性能变化的塑料。为了更好地了解这些材料，在分子水平上对它们进行表征是至关重要的。这种分子表征可以用来提高不同聚烯烃产品的质量。用高温凝胶渗透色谱法（HT-GPC）测量了聚烯烃的随钻测井曲线。该仪器对于了解聚烯烃的生产和应用至关重要。我们目前在这个领域非常活跃，拥有一台旧型号的HT-GPC，它已经不可靠了。这项拨款提案的目的是为我们的实验室购买一台新的HT-GPC，它具有几个现代功能，将提供关于我们生产的聚烯烃性质的更准确的信息。了解聚烯烃的随钻率是研究聚合催化、聚合过程动力学、聚合物加工和结构-性能关系的基础。我们在所有这些领域都有一个非常活跃的长期研究项目，由行业和政府共同资助；该计划将大大加强了这一新的GPC仪器的收购。

Polyethylene and polypropylene are high-tonnage plastics used to make bottles, grocery bags, wrapping films, automotive parts, and several other applications. These plastics, known as polyolefins, are very important because of their versatility, low cost and non-toxicity.    Polyolefins are versatile because their molecules can be altered to make products with properties for different application. By changing the distribution of molecular sizes of polyethylene (formally know as the molecular weight distribution - MWD), it is possible to make plastics that have properties varying from those of waxes (small molecules) to those of very strong materials such as the ones used to make gas pipes (very large molecules). To better understand these materials, it is fundamental to characterize them at the molecular level. This molecular characterization can then be used to enhance the quality of different polyolefin-made products.    The MWD of polyolefins is measured with laboratory instruments called high-temperature gel permeation chromatography (HT-GPC). This instrument is of the utmost importance for understanding polyolefin production and applications. We are currently very active in this area and own an old model HT-GPC that is not reliable anymore. The objective of this grant proposal is to purchase a new HT-GPC for our laboratories with several modern features that will provide significantly more accurate information on the nature of polyolefins we produce.    The knowledge of the MWD of polyolefins is fundamental for the study of polymerization catalysis, kinetics of polymerization processes, polymer processing and structure-property relationships. We have a very active, long-term research program in all these areas, funded by both industry and government; this program will be greatly enhanced by the acquisition of this new GPC instrument.