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Control of microstructural properties in emulsion polymerization systems
Author(s) -
Vicente M.,
Leiza J.R.,
Asua J.M.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3900(200206)182:1<291::aid-masy291>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - copolymer , polymer , materials science , emulsion polymerization , emulsion , monomer , styrene , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , molar mass distribution , butyl acrylate , composite material , engineering
Control strategies for the simultaneous control of microstructural properties of copolymer latexes (copolymer composition and molecular weight distribution) are presented. For linear polymers, on‐line control strategies based on calorimetric measurements allowed to produce styrene/n‐butyl acrylate emulsion polymers of predefined copolymer compositions and MWDs. The strategy failed for nonlinear polymers because the polymer produced at a certain process time might later in the process become active varying its molecular weight. Alternative open‐loop control policies were developed for nonlinear polymers. These strategies required a mathematical model of the process that is used in an off‐line optimization to determine the trajectories of the manipulated variables (feed flow rates of monomer and CTA) that allow producing the desired copolymers. The implementation of the open‐loop control allowed the production of nonlinear MMA/n‐BA emulsion copolymers of well‐defined copolymer composition and MWD.