What Polymer Did I Obtain?

hello,

An emulsion formed and buoyed to the surface where it formed a solid stopper, about 1/3 the volume of trichloroethane (maybe limited by the available NaOH). I had to break the test tube to get the stopper.

When breaking the test tube, it smelled like trichloroethane, and I didn't notice odours like hypochlorite (which I recognize in water!) nor chlorine. The reaction hadn't evolved gas neither.

The polymer (I suppose it was) looked compact, it was white, softer than polypropylene but much harder than wax, EPDM or glue for hot glue gun - about as soft as polymethylpentene. Its density could match a polyolefine, but I had no means to measure it.

It burned like a polyolefin, with the faint smoke and typical flame and odour. An odour very different from to polymers containing oxygen like POM or chlorine like PVC. A quiet flame and faint smoke very different from multiple-bonds polymer like unloaded latex or polybutadiene.

A tridimensional network of C-CH3 would have an amount of hydrogen compatible with the reactants, but I'd expect it (wrongly?) to be a soft elastomer.


Please help.
Thanks!

I didn't find the right solution from the Internet.


References:
www.scienceforums.net/topic/69094-what-polymer-did-i-obtain/


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