Removing Gels Produced in Polymerization

Howard [168] discusses gels created in polymerization. He mentions that the most common defect found by resin suppliers is the crosslinked gel. These result from dislodged pieces of reactor or separator plaque. These crosslinked gels tend to be evenly distributed in the polymer and are carried through processing extruders in a predictable manner. 

Some resin producers supply their customers with spec sheets that show the maximum level of gels in the resin. An example is shown in Fig. 11.41 [167]. 

The processor should know the level of gels in the incoming raw material to know the gel level and to determine whether this level is relatively constant or subject to substantial variation. 

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