Polymerization bulk polymerization

Polymerization of monomers in the absence of any other solvent is called bulk polymerization. Bulk polymerization of monomers, such as hydrox-yethyl methacrylate (or HEMA), leads to the production of a glassy, transparent polymer matrix that is very hard. When immersed in water, such a glassy matrix swells to become relatively soft and flexible. Although it allows the transfer of water and some low molecular weight solutes, this kind of swollen polymer matrix (i.e., hydrogel) is considered nonporous. The... 

Polymerizations. Bulk Polymerization 3.5 g of freshly distilled monomer was put into a 12 ml polymerization tube which was then degassed under a vacuum of q 3 mm Hg four or five times... 

Polymerization of Styrene Solutions of Volatile Hydrocarbons. Addition of Hydrocarbon before Polymerization. Bulk Polymerization. Expandable polystyrene was prepared inadvertently in 1945 in an attempt to bulk copolymerize 10% isobutylene with styrene. The product formed a low density foam when heated (96). An early method (1950) for rendering polystyrene expandable by petroleum ether was to dissolve 6 parts of petroleum ether in a 40% solution of polystyrene in benzoyl peroxide-catalyzed styrene and to hold the mass for 28 days at 32 °C. (124). In a recent version of this process, the monomer (chlorostyrene) and blowing agent (trichlorofluoromethane) in a poly (vinyl fluoride) bag were irradiated with y-rays (105). 

Bulk polymerization. Bulk polymerization is the simplest and most direct method (from the standpoint of formulation and equipment) for converting monomer to polymer. It requires only monomer (and possibly monomer-soluble initiator or catalyst), and perhaps a chain transfer agent for molecular weight control, and as such gives the highest-purity polymer. However, extra care must be taken to control the process when the polymerization reaction is very exothermic and particularly when it is run on a large scale. Poly(methyl methacrylate), polystyrene, or low-density (high pressure) polyethylene, for example, can be produced from... 

Four commercial methods are used to polymerize vinyl chloride. These are emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, bulk polymerization, and solution polymerization. The first two are the only techniques of significance with respect to fluid vinyl systems. 

Ring opening polymerization of L-lactide is generally the most preferred route for preparing high-molecular-weight PLA due to the possibility of an accurate control of the process. Lactide polymerization can be carried out using melt polymerization, bulk polymerization, solution polymerization, and suspension... 

Radical polymerization Bulk polymerization using azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator at 50°C (3)... 

Actual polymerizations are carried out in a variety of ways. These can be categorized as homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. Homogeneous systems include bulk and solution polymerization, whereas suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization, bulk polymerization with precipitate, interfacial polycondensation, and solid-state polycondensation constitute the heterogeneous systems. 

In mass polymerization bulk monomer is converted to polymers. In solution polymerization the reaction is completed in the presence of a solvent. In suspension, dispersed mass, pearl or granular polymerization the monomer, containing dissolved initiator, is polymerized while dispersed in the form of fine droplets in a second non-reactive liquid (usually water). In emulsion polymerization an aqueous emulsion of the monomer in the presence of a water-soluble initiator Is converted to a polymer latex (colloidal dispersion of polymer in water). 

Elbert R, Laschewsky A and Ringsdorf H 1985 Hydrophilic spacer groups in polymerizable lipids— formation of biomembrane models from bulk polymerized lipids J. Am. Ohem. Soc. 107 4134-41... 

Once the radicals diffuse out of the solvent cage, reaction with monomer is the most probable reaction in bulk polymerizations, since monomers are the species most likely to be encountered. Reaction with polymer radicals or initiator molecules cannot be ruled out, but these are less important because of the lower concentration of the latter species. In the presence of solvent, reactions between the initiator radical and the solvent may effectively compete with polymer initiation. This depends very much on the specific chemicals involved. For example, carbon tetrachloride is quite reactive toward radicals because of the resonance stabilization of the solvent radical produced [1] ... 

The assumption that k values are constant over the entire duration of the reaction breaks down for termination reactions in bulk polymerizations. Here, as in Sec. 5.2, we can consider the termination process—whether by combination or disproportionation to depend on the rates at which polymer molecules can diffuse into (characterized by kj) or out of (characterized by k ) the same solvent cage and the rate at which chemical reaction between them (characterized by kj.) occurs in that cage. In Chap. 5 we saw that two limiting cases of Eq. (5.8) could be readily identified ... 

Bulk and solution polymerizations are more or less self-explanatory, since they operate under the conditions we have assumed throughout most of this chapter. A bulk polymerization may be conducted with as few as two components monomer and initiator. Production polymerization reactions are carried out to high conversions which produces several consequences we have mentioned previously ... 

The enthalpy of the copolymerization of trioxane is such that bulk polymerization is feasible. For production, molten trioxane, initiator, and comonomer are fed to the reactor a chain-transfer agent is in eluded if desired. Polymerization proceeds in bulk with precipitation of polymer and the reactor must supply enough shearing to continually break up the polymer bed, reduce particle size, and provide good heat transfer. The mixing requirements for the bulk polymerization of trioxane have been reviewed (22). Raw copolymer is obtained as fine emmb or flake containing imbibed formaldehyde and trioxane which are substantially removed in subsequent treatments which may be combined with removal of unstable end groups. 

Bulk Polymerization. The bulk polymerization of acryUc monomers is characterized by a rapid acceleration in the rate and the formation of a cross-linked insoluble network polymer at low conversion (90,91). Such network polymers are thought to form by a chain-transfer mechanism involving abstraction of the hydrogen alpha to the ester carbonyl in a polymer chain followed by growth of a branch radical. Ultimately, two of these branch radicals combine (91). Commercially, the bulk polymerization of acryUc monomers is of limited importance. 

Because the polymerization occurs totally within the monomer droplets without any substantial transfer of materials between individual droplets or between the droplets and the aqueous phase, the course of the polymerization is expected to be similar to bulk polymerization. Accounts of the quantitative aspects of the suspension polymerization of methyl methacrylate generally support this model (95,111,112). Developments in suspension polymerization, including acryUc suspension polymers, have been reviewed (113,114). 

The first quantitative model, which appeared in 1971, also accounted for possible charge-transfer complex formation (45). Deviation from the terminal model for bulk polymerization was shown to be due to antepenultimate effects (46). Mote recent work with numerical computation and C-nmr spectroscopy data on SAN sequence distributions indicates that the penultimate model is the most appropriate for bulk SAN copolymerization (47,48). A kinetic model for azeotropic SAN copolymerization in toluene has been developed that successfully predicts conversion, rate, and average molecular weight for conversions up to 50% (49). 

Acrylonitrile and its comonomers can be polymerized by any of the weU-known free-radical methods. Bulk polymerization is the most fundamental of these, but its commercial use is limited by its autocatalytic nature. Aqueous dispersion polymerization is the most common commercial method, whereas solution polymerization is used ia cases where the spinning dope can be prepared directly from the polymerization reaction product. Emulsion polymerization is used primarily for modacryhc compositions where a high level of a water-iasoluble monomer is used or where the monomer mixture is relatively slow reacting. 

Bulk Polymerization. The bulk polymerization of acrylonitrile is complex. Even after many investigations into the kinetics of the polymerization, it is stiU not completely understood. The complexity arises because the polymer precipitates from the reaction mixture barely swollen by its monomer. The heterogeneity has led to kinetics that deviate from the normal and which can be interpreted in several ways. 

Although bulk polymerization of acrylonitrile seems adaptable, it is rarely used commercially because the autocatalytic nature of the reaction makes it difficult to control. This, combined with the fact that the rate of heat generated per unit volume is very high, makes large-scale commercial operations difficult to engineer. Lastiy, the viscosity of the medium becomes very high at conversion levels above 40 to 50%. Therefore commercial operation at low conversion requires an extensive monomer recovery operation. 

Copolymerization is effected by suspension or emulsion techniques under such conditions that tetrafluoroethylene, but not ethylene, may homopolymerize. Bulk polymerization is not commercially feasible, because of heat-transfer limitations and explosion hazard of the comonomer mixture. Polymerizations typically take place below 100°C and 5 MPa (50 atm). Initiators include peroxides, redox systems (10), free-radical sources (11), and ionizing radiation (12). 

The procedure of forming copolymers dates back to the early 1940s when only phenoHc resins were avaHable. Copolymers were produced by bulk polymerization of phenol [108-95-2] and formaldehyde [50-00-0]. Because the resulting soHd product had the shape of the vessel in which polymerization... 

Early efforts to produce synthetic mbber coupled bulk polymerization with subsequent emulsification (9). Problems controlling the heat generated during bulk polymerization led to the first attempts at emulsion polymerization. In emulsion polymerization hydrophobic monomers are added to water, emulsified by a surfactant into small particles, and polymerized using a water-soluble initiator. The result is a coUoidal suspension of fine particles,... 

The vast majority of commercial apphcations of methacryhc acid and its esters stem from their facile free-radical polymerizabiUty (see Initiators, FREE-RADICAl). Solution, suspension, emulsion, and bulk polymerizations have been used to advantage. Although of much less commercial importance, anionic polymerizations of methacrylates have also been extensively studied. Strictiy anhydrous reaction conditions at low temperatures are required to yield high molecular weight polymers in anionic polymerization. Side reactions of the propagating anion at the ester carbonyl are difficult to avoid and lead to polymer branching and inactivation (38—44). 

Bulk Polymerization. This is the method of choice for the manufacture of poly(methyl methacrylate) sheets, rods, and tubes, and molding and extmsion compounds. In methyl methacrylate bulk polymerization, an auto acceleration is observed beginning at 20—50% conversion. At this point, there is also a corresponding increase in the molecular weight of the polymer formed. This acceleration, which continues up to high conversion, is known as the Trommsdorff effect, and is attributed to the increase in viscosity of the mixture to such an extent that the diffusion rate, and therefore the termination reaction of the growing radicals, is reduced. This reduced termination rate ultimately results in a polymerization rate that is limited only by the diffusion rate of the monomer. Detailed kinetic data on the bulk polymerization of methyl methacrylate can be found in Reference 42. 

Three bulk polymerization processes are commercially important for the production of methacrylate polymers batch cell casting, continuous casting, and continuous bulk polymerization. Approximately half the worldwide production of bulk polymerized methacrylates is in the form of molding and extmsion compounds, a quarter is in the form of cell cast sheets, and a quarter is in the form of continuous cast sheets. 

DADC HomopolymeriZation. Bulk polymerization of CR-39 monomer gives clear, colorless, abrasion-resistant polymer castings that offer advantages over glass and acryHc plastics in optical appHcations. Free-radical initiators are required for thermal or photochemical polymerization. 

Bulk polymerization has been studied at relatively low temperatures and in toluene and carbon tetrachloride solutions carried to low conversions (12). The effects of temperature and different organic peroxide initiators have been observed. The molecular weight of soluble polymer after 3% conversion is ca — 19,000 and is somewhat dependent on initiator concentration or temperature between 35 and 65 °C. With di-2-methylpentanoyl... 

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