Curing reactions of epoxy resins are accelerated by added hydrogen‐bond donor solvent and hydroxyl groups produced during the course of polymerization. A kinetic model comprising several different polycondensation and polyaddition reactions that occur simultaneously is developed. The concept of diffusion controlled reactions is employed to describe the change of reaction rate constants with conversion after the formation of an infinite crosslinking network. Good agreement is obtained between the model predictions and experimental data available in the literature.

SYNOPSISEmulsion and miniemulsion copolymerizations were carried out with acrylic monomers (methyl methacrylate, butyl acrylate, and acrylic acid) in the presence of a n alkyd resin. Poly(methy1 methacrylate) was used as a hydrophobe or cosurfactant in the miniemulsion reactions. The results demonstrate that miniemulsion polymerization is the preferred process, probably because of mass transport limitations of the alkyd in the conventional emulsion polymerization reactions. The monomer emulsions prepared for the miniemulsion reactions were much more stable and the polymerizations were free of coagulum. Reaction rates, particle size characteristics, grafting efficiencies, and some film properties were measured.

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SynopsisPrevious kinetic studies in emulsion polymerization have almost always involved an assumption of uniform distribution of free radicals in the latex particle. Such an assumption is not likely to reflect reality in many systems that employ water-soluble initiators because the hydrophilic end-group of the oligomeric free radical w i l l preferentially stay in the surface layer of the particle.This constrained end-group location would result in nonuniform distribution of free radicals in the polymerizing latex particles. A Monte Car10 simulation of the growth of a single polymer chain within the latex particle supports this hypothesis. Such a nonuniform distribution of free radicals in the latex particle is expected to have an influence on reaction kinetics and product properties. The mechanism for transport of free radicals out of polymerizing latex particles is reexamined based on the proposed concept, and a modified expression for the desorption rate constant is presented.

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