Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol.35, No.12, 1955-1961, 1997
Characterization of Mechanically Sheared Ethylene-Propylene Copolymers by High-Resolution NMR
We report high-resolution solution-state NMR experiments on chain ends generated in ethylene-propylene copolymers by mechanical shearing in an extruder. The use of the higher resolution of the C-13-NMR spectrum, in a two-dimensional H-1-C-13 chemical shift correlation experiment, has allowed the complete resolution and assignment of the olefinic chain-end region of the H-1-NMR spectrum. Simultaneously, the assignments of the C-13 olefinic resonances, previously identified [A. C. Kolbert, J. G. Didier, and L. Xu, Macromolecules, 29, 8591 (1996)] are confirmed. An iterative method for calculating the average molecular weight, based on quantitative measurements of the olefinic 1H-NMR peak intensities is introduced and these results are compared with measurements from C-13-NMR and size exclusion chromatography and correlated to reduced viscosities.