1)INTRODUCTION:

Poly(4-methyl 1-pentene)(PMP) is a thermoplastic polymer of methylpentene

monomer units.This plastic is reported to be an isotactically arranged aliphatic
polyolefin of 4-methyl pentene .It was developed in the laboratory as early as
1955. It was not given any commercial value until Imperial Chemical
Industries,Ltd., announced it under the name of TPX in 1965. Zieglar-type
catalysts are used to polymerize 4-methyl 1-pentene at atmospheric pressures.
After polymerization, catalyst residues are removed by washing with methyl
alcohol. The material is then compounded into granular form with
stabilizers,pigments,fillers or other additives.

The principally isotactic poly(4-methyl 1-pentene) has a tetragonal structure in

the crystalline form. The polymer has a high Tm between 235C and 250C and
a low density of about 0.83 g/cm3the lowest density of all polyolefins. It has
a light transmission value of 90%-93%. Its monomer unlike the other
polyolefins, is not the by-product if the steam-cracking operations it results
from propylene dimerization. TPX has the best high-temperature mechanical
properties. Because of the bulky and crowed side groups, it has significant free
volumn that is responsible for its high water permeability, high oxygen uptake
and high susceptibility tophotooxidation.

The physical properties are close to that of Polypropylene (PP); the tensile
strength, flexural modulus, hardness and impact strength are similar. It is
transparent but PP is translucent at best. It is thixotropic and can easily be
compounded with colorants, additives and fillers. Its melt viscosity is far more
temperature- sensitive than that of all the other poly olefins and could be
processed in injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion. Its market
includes laboratory/medical ware , lighting , automotive, appliances, electronics
and electrical parts. It has highly superior electrical properties.
Poly(4-methyl-l-pentene) (PMP) is a linear a-polyolefin with isobutylbranches
and with very interesting properties . From a practical point ofview, PMP
presents high optical transparency, relatively high thermalstability and chemical
resistance, in addition to excellent dielectric characteristics and microwave
transparency . Consequently, a wide range ofapplications is possible for this
polymer . The chemical resistance, temperaturestability and transparency
provide uses in medical equipmentsuch as hypodermic syringes, blood
collection and transfusion equipment.pacemaker parts and respiration
equipment; in chemical laboratoryequipment such as cells for spectroscopic and
optical analysis; and in wire and cable coating.

2)MONOMER SYNTHESIS:

The monomer for PMP, 4-methyl-1-pentene (4-MP-1), is producedby the

dimerization of propylene using an alkali metal catalyst. Bothsodium and
potassium can be used as catalysts, but, in general, higherpropylene conversion
and 4-MP-1 selectivity are obtained using potassium.Usual operating conditions
are high pressure (1500 psig) and moderatetemperature (150-160C).
The reaction occurs via an ally1 carbanion I (formed in a preliminaryreaction
between potassium and propylene, Reaction 1) which addsacross the double
bond of a second propylene molecule (Reaction 2) toform the hexenylanion
.Depending on which way the carbanion addsacross the double bond, 4-MP-1 or
1-hexene is produced.
There are two commercial producers of 4-MP-1 in the world today,Mitsui
Petrochemical in Japan, and British Petroleum in Scotland.

3)POLYMERIZATION OF 4-METHYL PENTENE:

3.1)Coordination Polymerization:

A variety of transition metal coordination catalysts (usually in conjunctionwith

an aluminium alkyl cocatalyst) polymerize 4-MP-1 to formhead-to-tail isotactic
polymers including Cr, Zr, and V . The most active and stereospecific catalysts
have Ti as the activetransition metal. The most widely used catalyst system
consists of&TiCl3 & prepared from the reduction of TiC14 by aluminium
alkyls .Recently, MgC12-supported Ti catalysts have shown high
polymerizationactivity and fair to good stereospecificity for the isotactic
polymerization of 4-MP-1
3.2)General Polymerization Scheme:

Polymerization of 4-MP-1 with heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta

coordinationcatalysts follows the same general scheme as the polymerizationof
the more common monomers ethylene and propylene.The active polymerization
site is formed by reaction of a metal alkylcompound (most commonly an
aluminium alkyl) with a transition metalhalide on the solid catalyst surface
forming a transition metal-alkyl bond(Reaction 4).A4-MP-1 molecule can then
coordinate to a vacant siteon the metal and insert into the transition metal-alkyl
bond (Reaction5). The formation of the propagating centre is sometimes called
the
catalyst initiation. Propagation of the polymer chain proceeds by sequential
coordinationand insertion of 4-MP-1 units into the metal-polymer bond
(Reaction6). The chain propagation is terminated by one of several possible
chaintransfer reactions. Among these, chain transfer can occur to monomer
(Reaction 7), to metal alkyl (Reaction 8), to an intentionally addedchain transfer
agent such as hydrogen (Reaction 9), or by spontaneouschain transfer
termination (Reaction 10). Reactions 7-10 all lead to anactivated catalytic centre
ready to insert a monomer molecule and beginthe propagation of a new chain.
Other chain transfer reactions result inspontaneous decomposition of a
polymerizing chain (Reaction 11) ordecompositionofthe initial metal-alkyl bond
(Reaction 12) leading toinactive products. Although the general polymerization
reaction schemefor the a-olefins is the same, the steric bulk of the isobutyl
group attachedto the double bond of 4-MP-1 gives it some unique
characteristics.
3.3)Average Lifetime of a Polymer Chain:

The time required to grow a polymer chain several thousand monomerunits long
is actually quite short. This is important from a commercialpoint of view. For a
batch polymerization, the polymer reachesan equilibrium molecular weight
quickly and does not change appreciablywith batch time. For a continuous
process, where a catalyst particlehas a chance of leaving the reactor soon after it
enters the reactor, thefact that the molecular weight of the polymer being
produced by eachcatalyst particle soon reaches a steady state means there
should be littleor no dependence upon MW with the time the catalyst particle
spendsin the reactor. Table summarizes the average lifetimes of polymerchains
for several catalyst systems. A high activity catalyst 1361 producesa chain 3500
monomer units long in 30 s when operating at 10C.

3.4)Stereospecificity:

The stereochemical configuration or relative handedness ofsuccessive

monomer units in polyolefins such as PMP can strongly affectthe physical and
mechanical properties of the polymers. For the coordinationpolymerization of 4-
MP-1, the two stereochemical arrangementsof importance are isotactic and
atactic. For the isotactic arrangement,all of the isobutyl side chains are located
on the same side of the zigzag plane representing the all-trans conformation of
the polymerbackbone chain. The side chains in the atactic arrangement are
placedat random on either side of the zigzag plane. The catalyst system
employedand the polymerization conditions are used to control
polymerstereoregularity. Several methods have been utilized to quantify the
isotacticity ofPMP. These methods include selective solvent extraction
,infraredSpectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and NMR spectroscopy.
3.5)Cationic Polymerization

Cationic catalyst systems can polymerize 4-methyl-1-pentene.The

polymerizations are conducted at low temperatures (- 130 to+20C) using
aluminum halides, e.g., AICl3, AIBr3 asthe initiator and alkylchlorides as
coinitiators. Isomerization of themonomer in the cationic form has essentially
the same activation energyas the polymerization reaction (9.5 kcal/mol), so the
polymer formedby this type of polymerization is a mixture of several structural
types.The isomerization/polymerizationreactions are summarized in Fig. 12
Structures B, C, and E are formed after intramolecular hydrideshifts take place
in the carbocation unit. Structure D requires a methideion shift to obtain the
appropriate carbocation structure. The structureshave been studied by IR, 'H-
NMR,and 13C-NMR analysis .The ratio of the different structures is mainly
influenced by reactiontemperature and solvent polarity and to a lesser extent by
the catalystandcoinitiator. The extent of isomerization was found to increase
withThenucleophilicity of the counterion and increasing polarity of the
polymerizationsolvent. The polymers produced are amorphous rubberlike
materials having number-average molecular weights ranging from 30,000 to
500,000.
3.6)Coordination Isomerization/Polymerization

Modified Ziegler-Natta catalysts can be used to produce poly(4-methyl-l-

pentene) from methylpentenes having internal double bonds. The internal
olefins, as such, do not polymerize with the coordination catalysts. Modification
of TiC13/(C2H5)2AIClcatalyst with either(PPh3)2PdC12 or Ni(SCN), yielded a
catalyst which would isomerize4-methyl-2-pentene, 2-methyl-2-pentene, or 2-
methyl-1-pentene to 4-methyl-1-pentene which was then polymerized to poly(4-
methyl-1-pentene).The rates of reaction are very slow, being controlled by
theisomerization reaction.
4)CHARACTERISTIC PHYSICAL PARAMETERS

Selected fundamental parameters of PMP are presented in Table including, for

example, the heat of fusion, the melting temperature, thedensity of crystalline
and amorphous phases, and the glass transitiontemperature.

5)DensityBehavior

PMP shows a very interesting density or specific volume behavior inview of its
crystallinity. There is a range of crystalline density valuesreported in the
literature from 0.813 to 0.832g/cm3 .Nevertheless,most values fall between
0.828 and 0.832g/cm3. These values havebeen mainly calculated from x-ray
diffraction results assuming that fourmolecular chains of the 7/2helix are
present in the crystal unit cell.
Griffith and Ranbycalculated the crystal density by using a differentapproach.
These authors considered the specific volume at 60C (1.219cm3/g) and
calculated the temperature coefficient of the crystal volume.They estimated
density to be 0.828 +-0.002 g/cm3 at 20C, which agreedperfectly with their
value obtained from x-ray diffraction experiments.The dependence of the
specific volume of PMP on temperature andpressure has also been studied by
Griffith and Ranby and Zoller. Figure 13 shows the temperature dependence of
the specific volumeof amorphous and semicrystalline PMP samples. These plots
show acrossover point at -50Cso that at room temperature a higher
crystallinitymaterial occupies alarger volume. The specific volume at 60C
was determined to be 1.219 cm3/g.
6)CRYSTALLIZATION BEHAVIOR

Poly(4-methyl-l-pentene)is a polymorph; i.e., it can crystallize in avariety of

crystal lattices. Crystallization from the meltonIy generates one form known as
modification I. This modification hasa tetragonal unit cell with parameters a = b
= 18.66A and c = 13.80 AFour chains pass through the unit cell which
contains 28 repeat units. Due to the branched nature of PMP, the polymer
chainsare in a 712 helical conformation, with the axes of the helices parallelto
the c-axis of the unit cell. Figure shows an x-ray diffraction intensitycurve for
modification I of PMP.
Crystallization from solution, however, promotes the formation ofvarious
crystalline modifications. The existence of PMP gels and solutionsin many
nonpolar solvents over a wide temperature range allowsthe appearance of a
variety of conformations in solution that, in turn,will produce a variety of
crystalline unit cell structures. In this respect,it will be shown shortly that
solution concentration, thermal history ofthe solution, and cooling rate will
determine the final solid-state crystallinestructure obtained.
7)MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR

Unoriented crystalline isotactic poly(4-methyl-1-pentene) is a

rigidthermoplastic with low elongation at break. It has been reported todisplay a
tensile modulus of 0.8-1.2 GPa (ASTM D638), tensile strengthat yield of 23
MPa (ASTM D638), tensile strength at break of 17 MPa(ASTM D638), and
elongation at break of 10-20%. The valuesof these mechanical properties are
comparable to those of high densitypolyethylene (HDPE), although the values
corresponding to PMP areslightly lower on the average . However, in terms of
theupper limit tensile modulus, PMP has a much lower value than HDPE.
For example, the limit tensile modulus determined for drawn PMP hasbeen
reported to be 3.6 GPa,whereas that of HDPE has beenreported higher than 200
GPa.
Also, PMP is more brittle thanHDPE. This has been partially attributed to the
higher molecular crosssectionalarea .The higher cross-sectional area would
produce a decrease in the numberof backbone bonds per unit cross-sectional
area that, in turn, woulddecrease the brittle strength and critical tensile strength
of the polymer .Indeed, in arelated study, Boyer and Miller proposed a
correlation involving the number of chain atoms between chain entanglements
(Nc) and cross-sectional area of the molecule (A). The correlation was a linear
relationship between the log (Nc) and the log(A). Consequently, polymers with
a larger molecule cross-sectional area present more chain atoms per chain
entanglement; in other words, there would be fewer chain entanglements and
therefore potentially lowerstrength, other factors being constant. Such a
relationship is shown inFig. 28
8)VISCOELASTIC PROPERTIES

The viscoelastic properties of PMP have been studied over a widerange of

frequencies including torsional pendulum measurements (1O-L10 Hz), dynamic
extensional testing (110 Hz), dielectric (105 Hz), and ultrasonic measurements
(lo6 Hz) .The lowest frequency analysis involved the use of a torsional
pendulum. Woodward et al studied the dynamic mechanical properties of PMP
measured in the range - 193 to 167C. Two damping peaks were found at - 123
and 52-67C. The high temperature peak (a,) was associated with the glass
transition. Lee and Hiltzdetermined the activation energy for the (a,) relaxation
as 443 kJ/mol from an Arrhenius plot ofmechanical data. Dielectric
measurements, however, revealed an activationenergy of 163 kJ/mol, indicating
that lower energy is needed forthe large-scale molecular motion of the alpha-
relaxation upon dielectricexcitation than upon mechanical excitation. The -
123C relaxation (pSJwas attributed to two possible motions: 1) hindered side
group rotationor torsional oscillation, and 2) torsional oscillations involving
chain segmentsfrom both the main and side chains. Vibrational motions of the
side chains of PMP, such as motion l), have been observed by broadline
low frequency Raman scattering .

9)THERMAL DEGRADATION

A few studies of the thermal degradation behavior of PMP have beenpublished

in the literature. Although these studies focused ondifferent aspects of the
degradation process, the outcome indicated thatPMP is more easily degraded
thermally than isotactic polypropylene(i-PP) and polyethylene.The thermal
degradation of PMP in vacuum was studied by Reginatoin the temperature
range 291-355C. The decomposition products comprised a volatile fraction
(9% of total weight) consisting ofisobutene and propane as major components,
and a heavy fraction ofhigher molecular weight hydrocarbons. A mechanism of
degradationwas proposed on the basis of a free radical chain reaction including
initiation, transfer, and termination steps. The initiation step would be caused by
breakage of normal C--Cbondshomolitically by thermaleffects, producing two
radicals. The second step would involve a transferreaction either by an inter- or
intramolecular backbiting mechanism.
Finally, termination would be a second-order reaction, either by recombination
or disproportionation. Figure 41 shows the decrease in intrinsicviscosity of pure
PMP as a function of degradation time and degradationtemperature. After an
initial drop of viscosity, the curves leveled offand the viscosity decreased at a
lowrate.

As the decomposition temperature increased, the initial viscosity drop got

sharper and the levelling off occurred sooner. These results supported the
concept that chain-end initiation could not occur, since it would not produce
such a rapid decrease of molecular weight. In this context, chain-end initiation
has been ruled out. However, oxidative degradation has been shown to occur
not only on the PMP main chain but also on the isobutyl pendant units.This is
due to the presence of tertiary carbon atoms on the main chainand on the side
groups. For example, Gabbay et al. studied thedegradation products evolved
from the thermal oxidative degradationof isotactic PMP (tPMP) and atacticPMP
(a-PMP)in the presence ofdry oxygen. The major volatile products of
degradation were carbon dioxide, water, isovaleraldehyde, isobutyraldehyde,
acetic acid, acetaldehyde,acetone, and acrolein. The relative abundance of these
productswas greater for i-PMP than for a-PMP, indicating that i-PMP is more
susceptible to oxidation than a-PMP under similar conditions. It is noteworthy
to mention that catalyst residue plays a role in the thermaldegradation of
polymers. It is possible that a different catalytic systemmight have been used to
prepare isotactic or atactic PMP. Therefore,this might have been a contributing
factor to obtain different susceptibilityto oxidation of i-PMP and a-PMP.
However, this was not addressedbyGabbay et al. Infrared spectroscopy of
nonvolatileproducts suggested the presence of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups,
and substituted vinylidene doublebonds.Similar IR results were reported by
Zitomer and Di-Edward0.
Furthermore, these authors, using TGA/MS, suggestedthat the relative
susceptibility to oxidation of the tertiary carbon atomon the polymer backbone
is -2 times greater than that of the tertiarycarbon atom on the pendant isobutyl
group. The oxidation mechanism seemed to start with hydroperoxidation of the
tertiary carbon atoms as shown in Fig. 42. Gabbay et al. proposed that further
oxidation and chain scission would produceketones and isobutyraldehyde.
lsobutyraldehyue could also form by areaction involving secondary side-chain
hydrogen abstraction and isomerization.Nevertheless, it should be pointed out
that initiation throughthe secondary carbon is much less probable than through a
tertiarycarbon. It was also proposed that acetaldehyde could be formed by an
isomerization reaction that upon further oxidation would yield acetic acid.
Finally, acrolein would result from the decomposition and oxidationof an
epoxide intermediate.

10)RADIATION STABILITY

Irradiation of polymers with a variety of radiating sources is commonlyused to

produce crosslinking or grafting reactions and to sterilizeobjects. For instance,
grafting reactions can be used to change the surfacecharacteristics of a
polymeric material without affecting the bulkproperties of the system. Such an
approach was utilized by Soebiantoet al. to graft acrylic acid onto PMP by y-
radiation and obtain ahydrophilic surface on PMP. The method consisted of
preirradiatingPMP in vacuum at -78C and subsequent soaking in an acrylic
acidmonomer solution. Electron spin resonance spectra showed the formation
of alkyl radicals that were stable in vacuum at low temperature.The results also
indicated that the radicals formed in PMP with highercrystallinity had a longer
decay time than those generated in PMP withlowercrystallinity. The degree of
grafting was a function of temperature,acrylic acid monomer concentration, and
crystallinity of PMP. On theone hand, both higher temperature and monomer
concentration producedfaster rate and higher degree of grafting, whereas, on the
otherhand, higher PMP crystallinity resulted in slower reaction rate and
lowergrafting efficiency for the same irradiation dose. Similar results have
been reported for acrylic acid grafting on polyethylene .
Anotherimportant finding was that the grafting distribution was highly
dependenton the diffusion of monomer into the PMP film. X-ray microanalysis
showed that the degree of grafting decreased from the surface of thefilm to its
center, indicating a concentration gradient due to diffusion.A different behavior
was observed when styrene was grafted on PMP.Wilson reported a grafting rate
dependence on film thickness; thethinner the film, the faster the rate. However,
it was stated that abovea certain critical film thickness (t = 0.2 mm), the grafting
rate wasconstant. This suggested that the monomer reacted and was
consumedbefore it diffused into the center of the film.
A comparison of the ratesof polystyrene grafting on PE, PP, and PMP showed
that PMP has arate2-6 times lower than PP and PE.Radiation can be used for
sterilization of polymeric materials. In this type of application, one should be
concerned with the effect of radiation on the structure, properties, and integrity
of the material. In other words, it must be known whether radiation induced
degradation occurs in the form of crosslinking reactions or chain scission. In
this sense, it is known that in an inert atmosphere, polymers containing
quaternary carbon atoms undergo radiation-induced chainscission, whereas
those with secondary carbon atoms principally undergocrosslinking, and those
with tertiary carbon atoms, such as polypropylene,suffer chain scission. PMP
would be expected to have a behavior similar to polypropylene. However, the
PMP unit contains two tertiary carbon atoms; one on the main chain and the
other on the side chain. Consequently, radiation damage might be different in
PMP. If the attack occurred preferentially on the side chain, then there would
not be effective chain scission.whereas if it occurred on the main chain, chain
scission would be eminent.

11)Molecular Weight

The low solubility of PMP in common solvents has limited the quantityof
molecular weight data in the literature for this polymer. However,traditional
techniques such as membrane osmometry, solution light scattering,and end-
group analysis have been utilized to obtain the availabledata for PMP .Kennedy
and Johnson did extensive work on PMP prepared by cationic polymerization .
The PMP samples used in their study hadsufficient solubility in THF that GPC
data could be collected and calibratedusing polystyrene standards in THF .The
molecular weights obtainedby GPC agreed well with M, values from light
scattering and M,values from osmometry.
As shown earlier in this review, the cationicpolymerization of 4-MP-1 produces
a variety of polymer structures whichmakes this type of PMP more soluble than
linear PMP in solvents commonlyused for GPC. The weight-average molecular
weight of these polymers were less than 700,000 and the weight average
molecular weight to number average molecular weight ratios were narrow for
polyolefins, averaging 2.6.Neuenschwander and Pino fractionated a sample of
PMP producedwith a Zeigler-Natta type catalyst. The stereoregularity index,
as determined by an IR method, was low (0.35) for the sample. Thefractionation
using thermal precipitation of a 3 : 1 benzene-nitrobenzenesolution gave
fractions with rather broad MWDs. Using the weight average molecular
weightvalues from light scattering, weight average molecular weight, values
from osmometry, and intrinsic viscosity data, Mark-Houwink-Sakurada
constants were calculated for chlorobenzeneand a-chloronaphthalene in addition
to methylcyclohexane. Leigh used the k and a values obtained by
Neuenschwanderand Pino to calculate the weight average molecular weightfor
several PMP samples having melt flows from 2.8 to 150 g/10 min. Plotting log
IV vs log weight average molecular weight for these polymers in
tetrachloroethylene (TCE), Decalin, and o-dichlorobenzene (ODCB) allowed
the determination of the Mark-Houwink-Sakurada constants for these solvents
shown in Table 21.

12)Fabrication

In principle, most of the normal fabrication techniques, used for the

manufacture of polyolefins can be used to make PMP arcticles, provided due
recognition is given to its low melting point and low melt viscosity. Further
changes in the processing techniques have been introduced over the past 5 years
to improve output rates and quality.

12.1)INJECTION MOULDING

While both piston and screw injection moulding machines can be used, an ideal
type employs a slow-compression screw with an L/D ratio of 20-24. The
cylinder must be capable of being heated to 350C with a precise temperature
control over a preferred operating range of 280-320C. Friction heating is
inadequate and cause local decomposition . An alternate is to feed the machine
with granules pre-heated to 130C. A valved nozzle prevents die drool between
shots with very fluid melts.Injection pressures only need to be 50 and 25MPafor
the primary and the secondary stage,with relatively slow injection speed into a
mold at 20-60C .gas venting moldsis imperative to avoid burning from any
volatile decomposition products fromed at high melt temperatures.

12.2)EXTRUSION BLOW MOULDING

The attraction of making high-quality transparent containers by blow moulding

PMP is tempered by poor melt strength and additional heating requirements
.Some simple adjustments to secure accurate melt temperature control in the
range 220-250C,the use of parisoncontroller and accumulator, and pressure
generation with a barrier type torpedo are satisfactory for certain application.
Still higher quality and better production rates call for a number of additional
alternatives. These include continuous parison extrusion ,modification of the
pinch-off blades, a long L/D extruder and mould vents . Manufactures advise
on the best conditions for their resins
12.3)INJECTION STRETCH BLOW MOULDING

It is the ideal method for making high-clarity containers having excellent

physical properties due to biaxial orientation .A standard low-compression
screw normally suffices , but improves heating to 200C is called for the
conditioning station before transferring to the final mould. Here, the blowing air
must have a supply of 3Mpa. Standard machines are easily modified to process
PMP.

12.4)EXTRUSION

PMP can be used in most plastic extrusion processes for making

films,fiber,sheets ,pipe and coatings for wire and paper. In all cases the
extrusion stages should have ample barrel heating arrangements. Twin and
single conventional full-flighted or three-stage screws used PE or PP are
suitable ,provided that those generating excessive shear are avoided. However,
the throughput is reduced with PMP , and surging tends to occur when the
screw is increased. A more suitable single screw has a double flight in the
compression zone to separate melt and solid polymer before it is plasticized.
This secures stable operation without any throughput penalties.The downstream
equipment used for making sheet, films, tubes and coatings is similar to that
used for PP, but with appropriate temperature adjustments.Fine fibres can be
made by the blown melt method or by the long spin process.

12.5)DIFFICULT AND IMPRACTICAL PROCESSES

Thermoforming , either by vaccum , pressure, or matched-mold processes is

difficult, but possible with PMP thin sheets. The need to use high temperature ,
followed by a long cooling gives a cycle time of approximately 1.5 minutes.
However ,attractive foods trays for microwave ovens are being made from thin
sheet by using low draw down ratio. Rotational moulding and mechanical
moulding are unsuited to PMP . Small amounts of foamed mouldings are
marketed.

13)APPLICATIONS

The unique combination of properties (high melting point, high clarity,low

density, excellent electrical properties, and good chemical resistance)makes
PMP the plastic of choice for many applications . The polymer can be injection
molded, blow molded, cast or blown into sheet and film, extruded for wire
coating, and spun into fibers.PMP is of interest for coating of electrical wires
because the thermal properties are sufficient to use in the wiring of commercial
buildingswithout the danger associated with toxic fumes from PVC during a
fire. Okada et al. have found additives which reduce the brittleness of PMP
wire coatings, and which make them flame retardant and nonreactive with
copper.
The excellent transparency has found utility in medical and lab ware,appliance
parts such as popcorn poppers and water reservoirs for coffeemakers and spray
irons, and in food packaging.
The material is transparentin the UV range, so PMP is well suited for UV
cuvettes. The refractive index of 1.45 remains very constant over the visible
light spectrum, making PMP ideal for optical components. The combination of
high clarity and high oxygen permeability created interest for using PMP in
contact lenses. The surface of the lenses were chemically treated to improve the
wettability of the surface, but the coefficient of friction caused discomfort for
the wearer.
The most important application of Poly(4-methyl pentene) is TPX, which is a
trademark of MITSUI CHEMICALS. TPX is a hard, solid material, which can
be mechanically shaped into various optical components like lenses and
windows. Also specifically TPX is used in CO2 laser pumped molecular lasers
as an output window because it is transparent in the whole terahertz range and
totally suppresses the ~10 m pump radiation.TPX, a 4-methylpentene-1 based
polyolefin manufactured and marketed solely by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc, is
available inpellet form. This lightweight, functional polymer displays a unique
combination of physical properties and characteristics due to its distinctive
molecular structure, which includes a bulky side chain, as shown below.

TPX Polymethylpentene (PMP) characteristics are similar to those of

traditional polyolefins and include excellent electrical insulating properties and
strong hydrolysis resistance. In addition, TPX features low dielectric, superb
clarity, transparency, gas permeability, heat and chemical resistance and release
qualities. This Polymethylpentene can be used for extruded and film products,
injection molded, and blow molded application items. TPX applications
include:

GRADES OF TPX

1)HIGH RIGIDITY
RT18(XB)
RT31(XB)
DX350/DX231
DX820
DX845
 2)MEDIUM RIGIDITY
MX004
3) LOW RIGIDITY
MX002
MX002O
DX310
4) FLEXIBLE
DX560M

14)CONCLUSIONS

It is obvious that although PMP has been commercially available for several
years, most of the information available in the literature is neither complete nor
easily interpretable. Therefore, it is noted that systematic studies are needed in
many areasof research concerning PMP. Such an area is represented by the
properties of the melt polymer that are very important to establish processing
conditions. Not many reports have been published on the melt propertiesof
PMP. Similarly, topics such as polymorphism and viscoelasticity couldbenefit
from additional systematic studies. Consequently, there is much to be learned
about PMP. Nonetheless, numerous applications have beenpresented for PMP.
Many of its applications are based on its high opticaltransparency. This allows
for uses in the medical field for hypodermicsyringes, blood collection and
transfusion equipment, respiration equipment,and pacemaker parts; and in
chemical laboratory ware, microwaveoven cookware, and insulating material
for wire and cable coating.
15)REFERENCES

1) WILEY ONLINE LIBRARY

2) SCOPUS.org
3) SCIENCEDIRECT.com
4) POLYMER ENGINEERING AND PLASTICS
5) ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POLYMER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
6) JOURNAL OF MACROMOLECULAR SCIENCE