Fragmentation of supported catalysts plays an important role on olefin polymerization, which has motivated several studies on this topic in recent years. This work aims to obtain experimental data to compare with the predictions of a theoretical model previously developed in the research group, which uses only kinetic constants and the catalyst physical properties as input parameters. Three zirconocene catalysts supported on silica are used to produce polyethylene. The reaction products are calcined and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. Good qualitative agreement is observed between the model predictions for radial extent of fragmentation and the experimentally observed fragmentation patterns. This includes the transition of a pattern of total fragmentation to one of partial fragmentation at the external layers of the catalyst as its pore volume decreases.

中文翻译：

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烯烃聚合催化剂裂解模型的实验评估

负载型催化剂的裂解在烯烃聚合中起着重要作用，这近年来引起了对这一主题的一些研究。这项工作旨在获得实验数据，以与先前在研究组中开发的理论模型的预测进行比较，该理论模型仅使用动力学常数和催化剂的物理性质作为输入参数。三种负载在二氧化硅上的锆茂催化剂用于生产聚乙烯。将反应产物煅烧并通过扫描电子显微镜分析。在径向碎裂程度的模型预测与实验观察到的碎裂模式之间观察到良好的定性一致性。