Synthesis of Oligo‐ and Polyethylene‐Polyamide‐6 Diblock Polymers

ABSTRACT A route for the development of a potential filament material for FFF 3D printing based on HDPE‐PA‐6 diblock copolymers is described. The approach consists of inducing an anionic caprolactam polymerization using a hydroxy‐functionalized polyethylene macroinitiator. Docosanol C 22 H 46 OH is initially used as a model of hydroxy‐functionalized polyethylene. Five initiator systems are synthesized from it and evaluated for the preparation of linear docosanoyl‐polyamide‐6 diblock copolymers. An acid chloride macroinitiator is found to be the best choice. An HDPE‐COCl with a molecular weight of about 2000 g/mol is accordingly prepared and used in the synthesis of HDPE‐ block ‐PA‐6 with a molecular weight of about 5700 resp. 7000 g/mol.