Thermal initiation, of free-radical

It may be noted that a frequently used thermal initiator of free radical polymerization of vinyl monomers, 2,2 azobis (isobutyronitrile) is not suitable for crosslinking... 

The ceiling temperature constraint in the homopolymerization of alphamethyl styrene (AMS) can be circumvented by copolymerization with acrylonitrile (AN) to prepare multicomponent random microstructures that offer higher heat resistance than SAN. The feasibility of a thermal initiation of free radical chain polymerization is evaluated by an experimental study of the terpolymerization kinetics of AMS-AN-Sty. Process considerations such as polyrates, molecular weight of polymer formed, sensitivity of molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, and kinetics to temperature were measured. 

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