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Ultrasonic Degradation of Polystyrene for Tailoring Molecular Weight and Polydispersity of Polystyrene Fragments
Author(s) -
Zimmermann Jana,
Kruppa David,
Fischlschweiger Michael,
Beuermann Sabine,
Enders Sabine
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemie ingenieur technik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1522-2640
pISSN - 0009-286X
DOI - 10.1002/cite.202000119
Subject(s) - dispersity , polystyrene , polymer , cyclohexane , ultrasonic sensor , materials science , chemical engineering , polymer degradation , degradation (telecommunications) , solvent , atmosphere (unit) , toluene , molar mass distribution , polymer chemistry , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , telecommunications , physics , computer science , acoustics , engineering
Ultrasonic degradation of polymers attracts more and more attention in the field of chemical recycling of polymers due to the promising opportunity to tailor molecular weight and polydispersity of the gained polymer fragments. In this work, the influence of solvent, gas atmosphere, and ultrasound amplitude on the ultrasonic degradation process of polystyrene is investigated. Therefore, an experimental procedure to perform ultrasonic degradation of polystyrene under homogeneous temperature conditions in the solvents cyclohexane and toluene under the gas atmospheres CO 2 and N 2 for different ultrasonic amplitudes was designed. It could be shown that a significant effect on the molecular weight and polydispersity of the polymer could only be revealed for N 2 and not for CO 2 atmosphere.