Topology-Engineered Hyperbranched High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylenes as Lubricant Viscosity-Index Improvers of High Shear Stability

Chain walking polymerization provides a novel strategy to synthesize highly branched high-molecular-weight polyethylenes with controllable chain topologies ranging from linear to hyperbranched dendritic structure. In this work, we report the performance of this novel series of polyethylenes as lubricant viscosity-index improvers. By examining a range of such model polymers possessing various tailor-designed chain topologies, we report the first systematic study on the unique effects of chain topology on the polymers' viscosity thickening ability and shear stability. It is demonstrated that hyperbranched polyethylenes we prepared possess extremely high shear stability with almost zero shear degradation regardless of their high molecular weight. Our study shows that these hyperbranched polymers have great potential for formulating high-performance lubricants with superior properties.