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“Living” Radical Polymerization in Tubular Reactors, 2 – Process Optimization for Tailor‐Made Molecular Weight Distributions
Author(s) -
Asteasuain Mariano,
Soares Matheus,
Lenzi Marcelo K.,
Hutchinson Robin A.,
Cunningham Michael,
Brandolin Adriana,
Pinto José Carlos,
Sarmoria Claudia
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
macromolecular reaction engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1862-8338
pISSN - 1862-832X
DOI - 10.1002/mren.200800015
Subject(s) - polymerization , nitroxide mediated radical polymerization , polymer , radical polymerization , materials science , work (physics) , process (computing) , polymer chemistry , molar mass distribution , polymer science , chemical engineering , computer science , thermodynamics , composite material , engineering , physics , operating system
“Living” radical polymerization is a relatively new polymerization process that can be used to prepare resins with controlled structures. In this work, a mathematical model developed previously to describe nitroxide‐mediated “living” radical polymerizations performed in tubular reactors is used for the optimization of the process and obtainment of tailor‐made MWDs. Operating conditions and design variables are determined with the help of optimization procedures in order to produce polymers with specified MWDs. It is shown that bimodal and trimodal MWDs, with given peak locations, can be obtained through proper manipulation of the operating conditions. This indicates that the technique discussed in this work is suitable for detailed design of the MWD of the final polymer.