New Keltan ACE EPDM Polymers

Polymers of ethylene, propylene and a non-conjugated diene (EPDM) represent an important class of elastomers. The fully saturated polymer backbone provides resistance against oxygen, ozone and heat. EPDM is commercially produced using homogeneous catalysts, viz. vanadium-based (Ziegler Natta) catalysts or, more recently, highly active, homogeneous, well-defined catalysts, such as classical metallocenes and other advanced catalysts.

In this study commercially available Keltan grades, which have been produced in the LANXESS EPDM plant "EPT3" with the Keltan ACE^TM catalyst, are compared with their Keltan ZN counter grades, regarding polymer characteristics, processing and vulcanisate properties. Several different EPDM grades are considered, using various compound formulations. It will be shown that true perform-alikes can be obtained by fine-tuning the ethylene content towards identical crystallinity and, thus, low-temperature properties, and by controlling the LCB level. In addtion, Keltan ACE^TM technology enables the manufacturing of a full range of EPDM products, including polymers with very high molecular weight and very high ENB content.