Polymer particle formation in suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate

Abstract

Equipment has been designed and assembled in such a way that direct microscopic observation of polymer particle formation in suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate is possible. The apparent mode of transformation from monomer droplets into polymer particles has thus been studied under two sets of conditions: (1) with agitation and (2) without agitation. In both cases, as the initial vinyl acetate/vinyl chloride ratio was raised, the apparent change in the shape and transparency of particles occurring during the course of polymerization became less evident. In vinyl chloride homopolymerization and vinyl acetate–vinyl chloride copolymerization with relatively high vinyl chloride concentrations, the polymer particles burst during the course of polymerization. Some factors which affect the change in the size of particles are also discussed.

Suspension, bulk, and emulsion polymerization of vinyl chloride—mechanism, kinetics, and reactor modelling

“…In addition, the electrostatic stabilization (stability of primary particles) is affected by reaction temperature (6 1, 65,84). agitation level (62,63,71,87,96,101,102) and additive type and level (67,74,75,(78)(79)(80).…”

Liquid–liquid dispersion in a continuous oscillatory baffled reactor – Application to suspension polymerization

“…The PVAc is soluble in VAM [59]. The monomer dissolves its polymer and the monomer droplets exhibit a viscous syrup step to finally leading to solid clear little spheres called beads.…”

Preparation of Polystyrene Nanoparticles by Seed Polymerization Using Amphiphilic Random Copolymer Micelles as Seeds

“…[9][10][11][12][13] The sizes of the polymer colloidal particles prepared so far lie in the range from 10 nm-10 mm depending on the method employed, which includes emulsion polymerization, 14 microemulsion polymerization, 15,16 miniemulsion polymerization, 17 soap-free polymerization, 18,19 dispersion polymerization, 20 seed polymerization, 21 and suspension polymerization. 22 Among these methods, microemulsion polymerization is the most commonly-used technique to prepare polymer colloids with diameters <100 nm and narrow size distributions. 15,16 Such small polymer particles are desirable for surface coatings because it takes only a short time for film formation and the particles can penetrate easily into porous substrates producing a film with good optical and mechanical properties.…”