Patent DE-3380718-D1 (DE)
Title: Compositions of cured ethylene/alpha-olefine copolymers, process for their preparation and their use in the manufacture of electric cables
Inventor: HAAS ARMAND
IPC: C08L23/08
Filed: 1983-05-31
Granted: 1989-11-16
Abstract: 1. Crosslinked material, having improved properties, obtained from copolymers of ethylene and of at least one alpha-olefine, characterized in that its gel factor is between about 95 and 99% and in that the said copolymers are chosen from amongst : (a) ethylene/propylene copolymers which comprise, if appropriate, up to 4 mol% of units derived from another alpha-olefine, have a density of between 0.905 and 0.930 g/cm**3 and a melt index of between about 0.4 and 3 dg/min, possessing from 32 to 62 methyl groups per 1,000 carbon atoms and are such that their density rho, expressed in g/cm**3 , and the proportion m of methyl groups therein are related to one another as follows : 0.9530 =< rho + 0.83 m =< 0.9568, (b) copolymers of ethylene and of at least one alpha-olefine containing at least 4 carbon atoms, the said copolymers having a density of between 0.905 and 0.940 g/cm**3 , a melt index of between 0.2 and 20 dg/min and an average proportion of alpha-olefine units of between 1 and 8 mol%, comprising crystalline fractions and amorphous fractions and having a heterogeneous distribution of the alpha-olefine units, and having a proportion of alpha-olefine units varying between 0.2 and 5 times their average proportion, depending on the fractions in question, (c) compositions comprising up to 40% by weight of an ethylene polymer prepared by free radical polymerization and at least 60% by weight of a copolymer of type (a) and/or of a copolymer of type (b), (d) copolymers of ethylene and of at least one alpha-olefine having from 3 to 12 carbon atoms, the said copolymers comprising from 0.5 to 10 mol% of units derived from the alpha-olefine, modified by the introduction of long-chain branches in such a quantity that their measured limiting viscosity is between 1.3 and 10 times their limiting viscosity calculated from the molecular weight distribution, (e) compositions comprising at least 60% by weight of at least one copolymer of type (a) and/or of type (b) and up to 40% by weight of an ethylene polymer having a specific gravity of between 0.956 and 0.970 and a melt index of between 0.1 and 1 dg/min, (f) compositions containing a mixture of at least one copolymer of type (a) and at least one copolymer of type (b), and (g) compositions containing several copolymers of type (b), more particularly several copolymers having markedly different melt indices, it being possible for the copolymers of types (a) and (b) to be obtained by copolymerization of ethylene and at least one alpha-olefine in at least one reactor comprising at least one zone, at a temperature of between 180 degrees and 320 degrees C and under a pressure of between 300 and 2,500 bars, by means of a Ziegler-type catalyst system comprising, on the one hand, at least one activator chosen from amongst the hydrides and organometallic compounds of the metals of groups I to III of the Periodic Table, and, on the other hand, at least one transition metal halogen.