Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Polyethylene-Clay, nanocomposites'

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is one of the most important polymers in use today for packaging due to its outstanding properties. The usage of PET has grown at the highest rate compared with other plastic packaging over the last 20 years, and it is anticipated that the increase in global demand will be around 6% in the 2010-2015 period. The rheological behaviour, thermal properties, tensile modulus, permeability properties and degradation phenomena of PET/clay nanocomposites have been investigated in this project. An overall, important finding is that incorporation of nanoclays in PET gives rise to improvements in several key process and product parameters together - processability/ reduced process energy, thermal properties, barrier properties and stiffness. The PET pellets have been compounded with carefully selected nanoclays (Somasif MAE, Somasif MTE and Cloisite 25A) via twin screw extrusion to produce PET/clay nanocomposites at various weight fractions of nanoclay (1, 3, 5, 20 wt.%). The nanoclays vary in the aspect ratio of the platelets, surfactant and/or gallery spacing so different effect are to be expected. The materials were carefully prepared prior to processing in terms of sufficient drying and re-crystallisation of the amorphous pellets as well as the use of dual motor feeders for feeding the materials to the extruder. The rheological properties of PET melts have been found to be enhanced by decreasing the viscosity of the PET i.e. increasing the 'flowability' of the PET melt during the injection or/and extrusion processes. The apparent shear viscosity of PETNCs is show to be significantly lower than un-filled PET at high shear rates. The viscosity exhibits shear thinning behaviour which can be explained by two mechanisms which can occur simultaneously. The first mechanism proposed is that some polymer has entangled and few oriented molecular chain at rest and when applying high shear rates, the level of entanglements is reduced and the molecular chains tend to orient with the flow direction. The other mechanism is that the nanoparticles align with the flow direction at high shear rates. At low shear rate, the magnitudes of the shear viscosity are dependent on the nanoclay concentrations and processing shear rate. Increasing nanoclay concentration leads to increases in shear viscosity. The viscosity was observed to deviate from Newtonian behaviour and exhibited shear thinning at a 3 wt.% concentration. It is possible that the formation of aggregates of clay is responsible for an increase in shear viscosity. Reducing the shear viscosity has positive benefits for downstream manufacturers by reducing power consumption. It was observed that all ii three nanoclays used in this project act as nucleation agents for crystallisation by increasing the crystallisation temperature from the melt and decreasing the crystallisation temperature from the solid and increasing the crystallisation rate, while retaining the melt temperature and glass transition temperatures without significant change. This enhancement in the thermal properties leads to a decrease in the required cycle time for manufacturing processes thus potentially reducing operational costs and increasing production output. It was observed that the nanoclay significantly enhanced the barrier properties of the PET film by up to 50% this potentially allows new PET packaging applications for longer shelf lives or high gas pressures. PET final products require high stiffness whether for carbonated soft drinks or rough handling during distribution. The PET/Somasif nanocomposites exhibit an increase in the tensile modulus of PET nanocomposite films by up to 125% which can be attributed to many reasons including the good dispersion of these clays within the PET matrix as shown by TEM images as well as the good compatibility between the PET chains and the Somasif clays. The tensile test results for the PET/clay nanocomposites micro-moulded samples shows that the injection speed is crucial factor affecting the mechanical properties of polymer injection moulded products.

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most popular polymers used in daily life. However, saturated hydrocarbons cannot absorb the energy of light reaching to earth, so degradation process is rather slow which in return cause disposal problems. On the other hand, it was observed that in presence of oxygen and impurities in the polymer matrix, degradation can be rendered to shorter time intervals. This study covers investigation of effect of three different additives in UV induced oxidative degradation of polyethylene. In this work vanadium (III) acetylacetonate, serpentine and Cloisite 30B were used as additives both together and alone to follow photodegradation of polyethylene. Amount of vanadium (III) acetylacetonate was kept constant at 0.2 wt%, while serpentine and Cloisite 30B were used between 1 and 4 wt%. All compositions were prepared by using Brabender Torque Rheometer, and shaped as thin films by compression molding. Samples were irradiated by UV light up to 500 hours. Mechanical and spectroscopic measurements were carried out in certain time intervals to monitor the degradation. It can be concluded that all combinations of three additives showed the fastest degradation behavior compared to pure PE. In the absence of vanadium (III) acetylacetonate the degradation was slowed and fluctuations were observed in the residual percentage strain at break values. There was not a significant change in tensile strength of all samples. Carbonyl index values followed by FTIR were always in increasing manner. Thermal properties were also investigated by DSC Thermograms and they did not change significantly.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2007.
Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Engineering." Bibliography: leaves 200-205.

The potential use of Resadiye/Tokat bentonite as a reinforcement in polypropylene (PP) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) polymer matrix nanocomposites filler was investigated. At first, organoclays (OC) were prepared by cation exchange reaction (CER) between the raw bentonite (RB) and three quaternary ammonium salts with long alkyl tails (QA): hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide [HMA] [Br], tetrabutyl ammonium tetrafluoroborate [TBA] [BF4], tetrakisdecyl ammonium bromide [TKA] [Br] and one quaternary phosphonium (QP) salt: tetrabutyl phosphonium tetrafluroborate [TBP] [BF4]. Characterization of resulting materials by XRD, TGA, FTIR and chemical analysis confirmed the formation of organoclays. Ternary composites of PP/organoclay/ maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) were prepared with two different grades of PPs in a co-rotating twin screw extruder. Composites prepared with these organoclays and PPs showed microcomposite formation. In the second part of the study, raw bentonite was purified by sedimentation, and characterization of purified bentonite (PB) by XRD, cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurement and chemical analysis (ICP) confirmed the success of purification method. PB was then modified with two QA`s: dimethyl dioctadecylammonium chloride [DMDA] [Cl], tetrakis decylammonium bromide [STKA] [Br] and one QP: tributyl hexadecyl phosphonium bromide [TBHP] [Br]. Organoclays from PB were used with the PP with lower viscosity, and ternary nanocomposites (PP/Organoclay2/MAPP5) were prepared in the extruder followed by batch mixing in an intensive batch mixer. Use of DMDA and TBHP OCs resulted in nanocomposite formation, while STKA resulted in microcomposite formation as observed by XRD and TEM. Young`s modulus and yield stress of the samples were enhanced through nanocomposite formation. In the last part of the study, ternary composites of LLDPE/Organoclay/ compatibilizer, a random terpolymer of ethylene, butyl acrylate and maleic anhydride (E-BA-MAH, Lotader®
3210), were prepared by melt compounding in the batch mixer at two different clay concentrations (2 and 5 wt %) and fixed compatibilizer/organoclay ratio (&alpha
=2.5). A commercial organoclay, I34, was also used in LLDPE based nanocomposites to make a comparison. XRD and TEM analyses of the compounds prepared by DMDA and TBHP showed mixed nanocomposite morphologies consisting of partially intercalated and exfoliated layers. Young`s modulus and tensile strength of nanocomposites prepared with DMDA and TBHP showed generally higher values compared to those of neat LLDPE, while results were the highest in the composites prepared with commercial organoclay I34. Parallel disk rheometry was used as a supplementary technique to XRD, TEM and mechanical characterizations, and it was shown to be a sensitive tool in assessing the degree of dispersion of clay layers in the polymer matrix.

The sol-gel process has been employed to generate hybrid inorganic-organic network materials. Unique ceramers were prepared based on an alkoxysilane functionalized soft organic oligomer, poly(propylene oxide) (PPO), and tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). Despite the formation of covalent bonds between the inorganic and organic constituents, the resulting network materials were phase separated, composed of a silicate rich phase embedded in a matrix of the organic oligomer chains. The behavior of such materials was similar to elastomers containing a reinforcing filler. The study focused on the influence of initial oligomer molecular weight, functionality, and tetramethoxysilane, water, and acid catalyst content on the final structure, mechanical and thermal properties. The sol-gel approach has also been exploited to generate thin, transparent, abrasion resistant coatings for metal substrates. These systems were based on alkoxysilane functionazized diethylenetriamine (DETA) with TMOS, which generated hybrid networks with very high crosslink densities. These materials were applied with great success as abrasion resistant coatings to aluminum, copper, brass, and stainless steel. In another study, intercalated polymer-clay nanocomposites were prepared based on various epoxy networks montmorillonite clay. This work explored the influence of incorporated clay on the adhesive properties of the epoxies. The lap shear strength decreased with increasing clay content. This was due to a reduction in the toughness of the epoxy. Also, the delaminated (or exfoliated) nanocomposite structure could not be generated. Instead, all nanocomposite systems possessed an intercalated structure. The final project involved the characterization of a series of metallocene catalyzed linear polyethylenes, produced at Phillips Petroleum. Polyolefins synthesized with such new catalyst systems are becoming widely available. The influence of molecular weight and thermal treatment on the mechanical, rheological, and thermal behavior was probed. Although the behavior of this series of metallocene polyethylenes was not unlike that of traditionally catalyzed materials, this work is one of the first comprehensive studies of these new linear polyethylenes. The main distinction between the metallocene and traditional Ziegler-Natta catalyzed polyethylenes is the narrow molecular weight distributions produced by the former (for this series of materials, 2.3< Mw  Mn <3.6).
Ph. D.

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Nanocompósitos de PEAD/argila bentonítica modificada e sem modificação foram preparados por meio do processo de intercalação por fusão. Realizou-se, previamente um estudo sistemático com quatro sais quaternários de amônio e em três tipos de argilas bentoníticas. Em seguida, fez-se a escolha de um sal quaternário de amônio e de uma argila bentonítica para dar continuidade ao trabalho. A argila escolhida foi organofilizada usando-se diferentes percentuais de sal quaternário de amônio 100%, 125% e 150% baseados na capacidade de troca de cátions (CTC) da argila. Ficou evidente por difração de raios- X (DRX) que os sais foram incorporados à estrutura da argila confirmando assim sua organofilização. Em princípio, todos os sais poderão ser usados para a organofilização da argila e, consequentemente nos sistemas de nanocompósitos PEAD/argila organofílica. Porém, foi verificado que o tipo de ânion presente pode influenciar a estabilidade térmica do sal quaternário de amônio. Os nanocompósitos foram preparados em uma extrusora de rosca dupla contrarrotacional e, em seguida, corpos de prova foram moldados por injeção. Para a avaliação da inflamabilidade dos sistemas foi utilizado o teste de queima na posição horizontal segundo a norma (UL-94HB) e o método do Calorímetro de Cone. O comportamento térmico dos nanocompósitos foi avaliado por temperatura de deflexão térmica (HDT) e termogravimetria (TG). As técnicas de DRX e microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (MET) foram utilizadas para caracterizar a morfologia e analisar o grau de expansão das argilas preparadas bem como o grau de esfoliação dos nanocompósitos. As propriedades mecânicas de tração e impacto também foram analisadas. Para efeito de comparação, determinadas composições foram extrudadas utilizando-se duas configurações de roscas da extrusora ZSK-30 corrotacional, com objetivos de variar as condições de processo e melhorar as propriedades dos nanocompósitos obtidos. Observou-se que o percentual de sal de amônio e o tipo de compatibilizante polar influenciam nas propriedades finais dos nanocompósitos.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) nanocomposites containing unmodified and modified bentonite clay were prepared by melt intercalation technique. Initially, four quaternary ammonium salts and three types of bentonitic clays were studied. Afterwards, one type of salt and one type of clay were chosen for the study. The clay was organophilized using 100,125 and 150wt% of quaternary ammonium salt based on cationic exchange capacity (CEC) of the clay. It was evident from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) that the salts were incorporated into the clay structure confirming its organophilization. In general, all salts may be used for clay organophilization and hence, on HDPE/Organophilic clay nanocomposites. However, it was verified that the type of anion present may influence the thermal stability of the quaternary ammonium salt. The nanocomposites were prepared in a counter-rotating twin screw extruder and the samples were prepared by injection molding. For the evaluation of the flammability, horizontal burn (UL-94HB) and cone calorimeter methods were used. The thermal behavior of the nanocomposites was analyzed by Heat Distortion Temperature (HDT) and Thermogravimetry (TG). XRD and Transmission Electron Microscopy (MET) techniques were used to characterize the morphology and analyze the degree of expansion of the prepared clays, and also the degree of exfoliation of the nanocomposites. Mechanical properties (Tensile and Impact strength) were also analyzed. Some compositions were extruded using two screw configurations of ZSK-30 co-rotacional extruder with the aim of improving the properties of the nanocomposites obtained by varying the processing conditions. It was observed that the percentage of the ammonium salt and the type of polar compatibilizer influence the final properties of the nanocomposites.

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
有機高分子研究所
97
This study is to utilize nano-Clay (with –OH group) to improve the performances of metathesized Metallocene Polyethylene (with –COOH group). As Metallocene Polyethylene is a non-polarized polymer, maleic anhydride grafted metallocene polyethylene (mPE-g-MA) is used as coupling agent to mix with metallocene polyethylene to metathesize the –COOH functional group on the surface, and to be able to react and form chemical bonds with the –OH group on the nano-Clay. Azodicarbonamide (AC blowing agent) and peroxide (DCP cross-linking agent) added in the formula can then be melt-intercalated to form nano- Metallocene Polyethylene / Clay foam composite. Mechanical properties and heat dimensional stability of this nano-composite with 5PHR dosage of nano-Clay have been tested and verified with Instron Tensile machine, DSC and SEM, and the results show around 32% increase in hardness, almost double in elongation performance, 64% increase in split tear property, 78% increase in tear strength, 40% improvement in compression set, nearly 75% decrease in heat shrinkage

Abstract Chapter 1 provides an overview of this study and a literature review. Emphasis is put on the materials used, the different processes available to synthesize polymer-clay nanocomposites, analytical methods to characterize nanophase materials and on the impact of the nanophase on the final physical properties of polymer-clay nanocomposites. Chapter 2 discusses PE-clay nanocomposites which were synthesized using metallocene and Ni-diimine catalysts through in-situ polymerization. Morphological studies were carried out by XRD, SEM, EDX, and TEM to investigate the intercalation and exfoliation mechanism. Prior to its injection into the polymerization reactor, montmorillonite (MMT) was treated with triisobutyl aluminum and undecylenyl alcohol (UOH). Triisobutyl aluminum (TIBA) can react with hydroxyl groups on the surface of MMT and UOH is able to react with TIBA on the MMT surface. An alkoxy bond is generated by the reaction of the hydroxyl groups of UOH with the TIBA on the surface of MMT. A single site catalyst was then supported on the MMT/TIBA/UOH support, generating a MMT/TIBA/UOH/CAT system. The free vinyl groups of the surface UOH molecules can be copolymerized with ethylene, leading to the formation of chemical bonds between the MMT surface and polyethylene (PE). Ethylene polymerizations with the MMT/TIBA/UOH/CAT system were compared with ethylene polymerization with unsupported catalysts. The resulting PE-clay nanocomposites were analyzed with electronic and optical microscopes to confirm the nanophase distribution of MMT platelets in the polymer matrix. TEM images showed that the exfoliated MMT layers appeared as single layers or aggregated layers in the polyethylene matrix. After Soxhlet extraction with boiling 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, the morphology of the residue particles remaining the thimble showed polymer fibrils stemming from the MMT surface, providing direct evidence of the chemical bonds between MMT surfaces and polymer matrix. Some residue particles also show PE-clay hybrid fibers between the particles. Through SEM/EDX analysis, it was confirmed that the fiber’s composition possessed silicone atoms together with carbon atoms. Chapter 3 discusses the results of in-situ polymerizations in gas-phase. The same catalyst systems and polymerization conditions discussed in Chapter 2 for slurry polymerization were applied to the gas-phase polymerization in order to investigate the particle fragmentation mechanism. After gas-phase polymerization at atmospheric pressure, the surface morphologies were investigated by SEM and TEM. In the case of the MMT/TIBA/UOH/Cp2ZrCl2 system, small particles (< 10m) were shattered from the larger particles (> 100 m) in the early stages of polymerization. After 24-hours of continuous polymerization, polymer fibrils growing from the inside of the MMT particles were observed by SEM. After further investigation with TEM, the cross-section profile of the particles showed curved bundles of MMT platelets, which illustrates exfoliation starting from the edges of the MMT particles. The MMT/TIBA/UOH/Ni-diimine system shows a different surface morphology after polymerization. In the early stages of the polymerization, polymer films were generated from the inside of the particles. After further polymerization, the MMT particles shattered and formed aggregates of PE-clay nanocomposites, similar to the ones proposed in the multigrain model. Chapter 4 discusses the copolymerization of ethylene and acrylonitrile. Ethylene/acrylonitrile copolymers were produced in the presence of a Ni-diimine/EASC catalyst system without the use of supports. Polymerizations of ethylene and acrylonitrile showed comparable activities in low concentrations of acrylonitrile. However, in higher concentrations, acrylonitrile induced a reductive elimination of the alkyl groups in the activated nickel-diimine catalyst. Conclusively, GPC analyses showed that acrylonitrile behaves as a chain transfer agent, showing reductive elimination of alkyl groups in the catalytic active center. The polymerization product morphology was analyzed by SEM and TEM. Polyacrylonitrile domains were observed in the polyethylene matrix and confirmed its nanosize distribution in the polyethylene matrix. DSC analysis of ethylene/acrylonitrile copolymers shows that an exothermic reaction takes place from 300 C to 370 C. This exotherm band detected by DSC can be related to the cyclization and aromatization of the nitrile groups of polyacrylonitrile. Through IR analysis of the ethylene and acrylonitrile polymer under high temperatures, this cyclization and aromatization was confirmed to be the cause of the decrease of the nitrile band (at 2244 cm-1) and increase of the vinyl bands (at 1640 cm-1). In addition, thermal treatment in DSC and successive XRD analysis showed the formation of the lamellar structures in the polyethylene matrix, reported as lamellar formation of polyacrylonitrile due to cyclization and aromatization of nitrile groups. The decomposition temperatures measured by TGA increased up to 50 C due to the presence of the nitrile groups in the polymer matrix. Tensile testing showed that the modulus increased, together with the yield strength and elongation. This phenomenon supports that strong interfacial interactions exist between the polyethylene matrix and polyacrylonitrile domains, as confirmed by TEM and IR analysis. Chapter 5 introduces the idea of acrylonitrile as a clay surface modifier. MMT was treated with acrylonitrile, using the same modification method of MMT that was applied in the MMT/TIBA/UOH/CAT system in Chapter 2. The nitrile groups in PE-MMT/TIBA/AN/CAT composites were confirmed at 2244 cm-1 by IR analysis. DSC analysis of PE-MMT/TIBA/AN/CAT showed that an exothermic reaction takes place from 300 C to 375 C. Successive DSC analysis with the same sample showed a new glass transition temperature band, induced by the reduction of polymer chain mobility. The basal diffraction band disappeared due to the exfoliation of MMT. Tensile tests showed an increase in modulus, without sacrificing the yield strength and elongation of PE-clay hybrid composites. Through these analyses, it was confirmed that strong interfacial forces exist between the polyethylene matrix and MMT layers in these PE-clay nanocomposites.

Surface tension of a polymer melt in a supercritical fluid is a principal factor in determining cell nucleation and growth in polymer microcellular foaming. Previous work has presented the surface tension of the amorphous polymer, polystyrene (PS), in supercritical CO2 determined by Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis-Profile (ADSA-P), together with theoretical calculations for a corresponding system. The dependences of the surface tension on temperature, pressure and polymer molecular weight were discussed and the physical mechanisms for three main experimental trends were explained using Self Consistent Field Theory (SCFT). This thesis introduces recent work on the surface tension measurement of the crystalline polymer, high density polyethylene (HDPE), in supercritical N2 under various temperatures and pressures. The surface tension was determined by ADSA-P and the results were compared with those of the amorphous polymer PS. The dependence of the surface tension on temperature and pressure, at temperatures above the HDPE melting point, ~125°C, was found to be similar to that of PS; that is, the surface tension decreased with increasing temperature and pressure. Below 125°C and above 100°C, HDPE underwent a process of crystallization, where the surface tension dependence on temperature was different from that above the melting point, i.e., decreased with decreasing temperature. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) characterization of the polymer was carried out to reveal the process of HDPE crystallization and relate this to the surface tension behavior. It was found that the amount of the decrease in surface tension was related to the rate of temperature change and hence the extent of polymer crystallization. In the second part of the thesis, surface tension dependences on temperature, pressure and clay concentrations were studied for HDPE nano-clay composites (HNC) and compared with pure HDPE. It was found the trends with temperature and pressure were the same with PS in CO2 and HDPE in N2; that is, the surface tension decreased with increasing temperature and pressure. In all nanocomposite samples, the surface tension decreased compared with pure HDPE. This could be a good explanation for the better polymer foaming quality with the addition of clay in the polymer. A minimum surface tension was found with the sample at ~3% concentration of clay. The degree of crystallinity of HNC was analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) at different clay concentrations. A minimumz crystallinity was also found at the clay concentration of 3%. The possible relationship between surface tension and polymer crystallinity was discussed.

In-situ polymerization is one of the most efficient methods for production of polymer clay nanocomposites. In-situ polymerization of olefins using coordination catalysts is a type of heterogeneous polymerization. In order to achieve acceptable clay nanolayer dispersion in the polyolefin matrix, the clay layer exfoliation and particle break up during the polymerization are essential requirements. A literature review on polyolefin/clay nanocomposite is given in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, we present a new mathematical model, which is as an extension of the multigrain model (MGM), to describe the intercalative polymerization and expansion of clay interlayer spaces during polymerization using clay-supported metallocenes. The results from the model show that, under the studied conditions, mass transfer is not a strong factor controlling clay exfoliation and particle break up. If the polymerization active sites are supported uniformly on all clay surfaces, effective exfoliation will be achieved after a relative short polymerization time. In practice, obtaining good dispersion of clay nanolayers with uniform properties requires that the active sites be exclusively located on the clay nanolayer surfaces, and not extracted by the solvent to form a homogeneous solution. Factors favouring active site extraction would result in nanocomposites with poor properties. In addition, high polymerization activities, stable polymerization runs, and ease of supporting are other criteria for a successful in-situ polymerization. For this purpose we established a catalyst supporting method by which most of these requirements were met. In this method, the water content on the clay surface, which is considered as poison for the metallocene catalyst, was used to produce MAO upon reaction with trimethylaluminum (TMA). Using this method, polymerization was highly active in absence of MAO cocatalyst, knowing that MAO cocatalyst promotes active site extraction from the clay surface and results in poor powder morphology. Chapter 4 describes the development of this supporting methodology. Chapter 4 also investigates the effect of the organic modification type existing on the clay surface on the success of catalyst supporting and in-situ polymerization. We found that using the proposed supporting procedure, only tertiary ammonium type modification enhanced the in-situ polymerization, whereas the quaternary ammonium worsened the catalyst supporting efficiency and led to catalyst with poor or no polymerization activity. It is suggested that, in addition to enhancing clay surface-organic solvent compatibility (which facilitates catalyst supporting), the tertiary ammonium cation reacts with the in-situ produced MAO and increases the stability of the cocatalyst bonded to the clay surface. The effect of different polymerization conditions on the polymerization behavior and nanocomposite structural properties, such as catalyst loading during supporting, polymerization temperature and triisobutylaluminum (TIBA) concentration, were studied in Chapter 5. It was found that TIBA acts merely as scavenger. High polymerization activities were obtained with low Al/Zr ratios (Al from TIBA) and increased Al concentration decreased the polymerization activity and also the quality of powder morphology. Catalyst loading in the supporting step showed to have an important role in determining the final properties. The clay particles with higher catalyst loading resulted in better exfoliation and powder morphologies The effect of solvent type during catalyst supporting and polymerization was studied in Chapter 6. It was shown that catalyst supporting in n-hexane resulted in polymerizations with higher activities and polymers with higher molecular weight were produced. Polymerization with catalyst supported in hexane showed different ethylene uptake profiles, suggesting different mechanism of exfoliation. It is suggested that using this catalyst, the clay is mostly exfoliated before polymerization started. Similar to the original clay, the catalyst supporting efficiency on the organically modified clay was close to 100 percent. However, comparing the polymerization activities of these catalysts to those that were supported directly in the reactor just before the polymerization (in-reactor, or in-situ, supported catalysts) shows that a considerable fraction of the active sites are deactivated during the prolonged contact between catalyst and clay support surface. In Chapter 5, it was shown that the in-reactor supported catalyst had considerably higher polymerization activities, up to 40 percent of that of the homogeneous catalyst. Nanocomposites made with in-reactor supported catalysts had powder morphology and nanaolayer dispersion comparable to those made with clay-supported catalysts.