Effect of different catalyst ratios on the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of dicyclopentadiene

In this paper, the polymerization process of polydicyclopentadiene (PDCPD) obtained by using dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) and the 2nd generation Grubbs’ catalyst is optimized. The curing reaction kinetics was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the solidification reaction process was obtained. The effects of different ratios of monomer to catalyst on the product performance were investigated. In addition, the current common modification methods of PDCPD have been summarized and improved. The results showed that with the increase of the ratio of monomer to the catalyst, the tensile strength, tensile modulus, bending strength and bending modulus of PDCPD all showed a downward trend, and the impact strength showed an upward trend. When nDCPD: nCat =10000:1, the comprehensive mechanical properties of PDCPD reached the best. The bending modulus, tensile strength and impact strength of PDCPD achieved 2100 MPa, 52.4 MPa and 30 kJ/m2, respectively. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of PDCPD also showed a decreasing trend with the increase of the ratio of monomer to the catalyst, at this ratio, the Tg of the polymer reached 147.6°C. The catalyst concentration had a large effect on the product performance.