Process for polymerization of alpha-olefins

Claim 1

A process for producing an alpha-olefin polymer selected from the group consisting of ethylene homopolymer and a copolymer of ethylene and an alpha-olefin having 3 to 8 carbon atoms, wherein said copolymer contains at least 40% by weight of ethylene component, said process comprising: polymerizing an alpha-olefin selected from the group consisting of ethylene and a mixture of ethylene and an alpha-olefin having 3 to 8 carbon atoms in the presence of a catalyst formed from: (A) a solid catalyst component prepared by contacting (1) an inorganic carrier selected from the group consisting of SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , MgO and mixtures thereof which has been calcined at 300° to 1000° C. for 2 to 20 hours, with (2) a reaction mixture, said reaction mixture formed from having reacted (a) a zirconium metal compound with (b) an organoaluminum compound, said zirconium metal compound represented by the formula R.sup.1 R.sup.2 R.sup.3 R.sup.4 Zr wherein R 1 and R 2 are identical or different and each represents a cycloalkadienyl group, and R 3 and R 4 are identical or different and each represents an aryl group, an alkyl group, an aralkyl group or a hydrogen atom, said organoaluminum compound being selected from the group consisting of trialkyl aluminums, dialkyl aluminum alkoxides, alkyl aluminum sesquialkoxides, partially alkoxylated alkyl aluminums having the average composition of the formula R.sup.5.sub.2.5 Al(OR.sup.6).sub.0.5 wherein R 5 is an alkyl group and R 6 is an alkyl group said organoaluminum compound being present in said reaction mixture in an amount such that the atomic ratio of the metal of said organoaluminum compound to the zirconium metal is from 0.3 to 30; and (B) an aluminoxane represented by the following formula ##STR11## wherein R 7 represents a hydrocarbon group and p is a positive integer, or by the following formula ##STR12## wherein R 7 and p are as defined above.