Influence of the type and the comonomer contents on the mechanical behavior of ethylene/?-olefin copolymers

The influences of the type and concentration of α-olefin (1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-decene, 1-octadecene, 4-methyl-1-pentene) on the mechanical behavior and crystallinity degree of some ethylene/α-olefin copolymers obtained by metallocene catalysts were studied by means of stress/strain experiments. The crystallinity degree of these copolymers has been determined by X-ray measurements. It has been observed that the copolymers show less resistance to strain as the comonomer content increases and the crystallinity decreases. Most of the studied copolymers exhibit a significant increase in the crystallinity level after the stress/strain experiments.