A study on the control of microstructures of polyalphaolefins via cationic polymerization

Abstract

Polyalphaolefin (PAO) is a synthetic lubricant that is superior to mineral-based lubricants in the terms of physical and chemical characteristics such as low pour point, high viscosity index (VI), and thermal and oxidation stability. Several kinds of PAOs have been synthesized by using 1-pentene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, or 1-dodecene as monomer with three kinds of aluminum-based Lewis acid catalysts via cationic polymerization. The control of the catalytic performance and physical properties of PAO such like molecular weight, kinematic viscosity, pour point, and viscosity index was done by changing polymerization parameters. The alkyl aluminum halide-based catalysts show better catalytic activity than that of the conventional AIC13 catalyst. The microstructure of PAO was investigated by means of TOF-MS (time of flightmass spectroscopy) analysis in order to elucidate the correlation between the performances of the lubricant (VI, pour point) and the molecular structure of PAO. The VI of PAO increases with increases in the carbon number of α-olefin. In other words, the performances of PAO as a lubricant strongly depended on the branch length of PAO.