Modeling viscoelastic resistance of deposited polymer during olefin polymerization

As olefin polymn. proceeds on a heterogeneous catalyst, the polymer so formed gets deposited on the catalyst fragment. This presents diffusional resistance to further monomer transport to the catalyst fragment. Recently, the authors considered that this deposited polymer brings in addnl. viscous deformational resistance to the otherwise Fickian diffusion, thereby limiting the polymn. rate. In the present work they account for the rheol. behavior of polymers being not just viscous, but viscoelastic. They find that the elastic deformation may largely facilitate the overall polymer deformation in situations where monomer transport would be predicted to suffer severe limitations if only viscous deformation were considered. [on SciFinder (R)]