Polymer production methods

M. Shimoda, T. Kawabata, T. Nobori, and M. Sukegawa, Biodegradable polymer, production method thereof, molded product thereof, and use thereof, US Patent 7 928180, assigned to Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Mina-to-Ku, Tokyo, JP), April 19,2011. 

For both copolymers and stereoregular polymers, experimental methods for characterizing the products often involve spectroscopy. We shall see that nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra are particularly well suited for the study of tacticity. This method is also used for the analysis of copolymers. 

The principal production methods for acrylamide polymers are polymerization in aqueous solutions, mixed solvent solutions, and various dispersed phases. 

The log CLD method can sometimes provide better quality data than the conventional Mayo method. It is less sensitive to experimental noise and has application in measuring the transfer constant to polymeric species where the distributions of the transfer agent and the polymer product partially overlap.24... 

The nanometer level of characterization is necessary for nanochemistry. We have learned from the history of once-new disciplines such as polymer science that progress in synthesis (production method) and in physical and chemical characterization methods are essential to establish a new chemistry. They should be made simultaneously by exchanging developments in the two areas. Surface forces measurement is certainly unique and powerful and will make a great contribution to nanochemistry, especially as a technique for the characterization of solid-liquid interfaces, though its potential has not yet been fully exploited. Another important application of measurement in nanochemistry should be the characterization of liquids confined in a nanometer-level gap between two solid surfaces, for which this review cites only Refs. 42-43. 

A low-molecular-weight condensation product of hydroxyacetic acid with itself or compounds containing other hydroxy acid, carboxylic acid, or hydroxy-carboxylic acid moieties has been suggested as a fluid loss additive [164]. Production methods of the polymer have been described. The reaction products are ground to 0.1 to 1500 p particle size. The condensation product can be used as a fluid loss material in a hydraulic fracturing process in which the fracturing fluid comprises a hydrolyzable, aqueous gel. The hydroxyacetic acid condensation product hydrolyzes at formation conditions to provide hydroxyacetic acid, which breaks the aqueous gel autocatalytically and eventually provides the restored formation permeability without the need for the separate addition of a gel breaker [315-317,329]. 

Injection molding is one of the most widespread methods used to make polymer products. A cursory look around our homes, schools, work places or cars suffices to find an abundance of injection molded products. One of the reasons that this conversion method is so popular is that it enables us to create complex shapes in a single fabrication process. 

This book is divided up into sections. The first three chapters provide a background sections that follow contain chapters dealing with polymer chain analysis, polymer morphology and structure, polymer degradation, polymer product analysis and support techniques. These are listed in more detail in Chapter 1, which also expands more fully on our industrial perception of the requirements for competence and appreciation in all techniques and methods for polymer molecular characterization and analysis. We hope you find this book of value and its approach both unique and technically informative and useful. 

The successful use of crop plants as a production method for biopolymer not only depends on the amount of PHA accumulated in plants but also on the type and quality of the PHA synthesized. Since poly(3HB) is a polymer with poor physical characteristics [16], it was important to engineer plants for the synthesis of PHA co-polymers with better physical characteristics. Poly(3-hydroxybu-tyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [poly(3HB-co-3HV)] is the best studied co-poly-mer. Poly(3HB-co-3HV) has lower crystallinity, and is more flexible and less brittle than poly(3HB) homopolymer [16]. Synthesis of poly(3HB-co-3HV) in bacteria was first achieved by fermentation of R. eutropha on glucose and propionic acid [2]. For a number of years, production of poly(3HB-co-3HV),... 

Fig. 1. Capsule permeability as measured by the inverse GPC method. Capsules were made from 1.25% A-carrageenan (Fluka) and 0.02% carboxymethylcellulose (Aqualon) in 0.9% sodium chloride (core polymers) and 2% polydimethylamine-co-epichlorohydrin modified, quater-nized (Scientific Polymer Products) and a quaternary amine (Agefloc B50, CPS) in PBS (receiving bath) using a 3 min reaction time. The capsules were subsequently washed with PBS, coated for 15 min with 0.1% LV alginate (Kelco) and again washed in PBS. Two molecular size dex-trans were used to probe the capsule permeability. 170 kD dextran is almost totally excluded while the lower molar mass polymers permeated the membrane to varying extents...

The results of the various methods used to determine the molecular weight and degree of functionality of the diamine are shown in Table II. All of this evidence is consistent with the conclusion that the purified, isolated diamine possesses high difunctionality. When the diamine was chain extended with terephthaloyl chloride, a polymer product with a symmetrical molecular weight distribution was obtained (D.P. a 10). Inexact stoichiometry is most probably responsible for the limited extent of chain extension. 

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