Contributions to the experimental investigation of the nascent polymerisation of ethylene on supported catalysts, 1 - A quenched-flow apparatus for the study of particle morphology and nascent polymer properties

A detailed investigation of the kinetics, morphology and polymer properties observed during the polymerisation of ethylene on a Ziegler-Natta catalyst at very short times (t >= 40 ms) in a novel ouenched-flow reactor is mesented. It was found that for times shorter than a tenth of a second, the observed rate of polymerisation was significantly higher than expected, and that the crystallinity of the nascent ethylene homopolymer was of the order of 25 to 30% - much lower than expected. Evidence is presented that shows that fragmentation is essentially complete in a small fraction of a second.