The kinetics of the emulsion polymerization of butyl acrylate at 20 "C in Smith-Ewart interval 111 were investigated using a redox initiator system peroxodisulfatebisulfite-copper. The aim of this work was to obtain more basic knowledge about the kinetic behavior of the butyl acrylate system. Monomer conversion into polymer was based on gravimetrically calibrated online densitometry. The experimentally obtained conversion versus time curves for these seeded reactions were fitted by a linear regression procedure (slope and intercept) as well as by a nonlinear regression procedure based upon zero-one kinetics. The conclusion is that the emulsion polymerization of butyl acrylate may reflect zero-one kinetics up to a particle size of approximately 130 nm. The rate coefficients for entry and exit can be obtained fairly accurately with the slope and intercept procedure and with the nonlinear regression method if the propagation rate coefficient is accurately known. However, this is not the case. Therefore the development of universal procedures for obtaining the propagation rate coefficients is essential, since this parameter is of paramount importance in all further model calculations concerning emulsion polymerization.x exp [-20 f 2 x 1 O~/ R T ] (40 "C --7 0~x 2 ) k = 107.4*0.4 P Acta Polymer., 47,441-449 (1996) 0 VCH Verlagsgesellschafi mbH, D-69451 Weinheim, 1996

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