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Effect of the Polymerization Technique and Reactor Type on the Poly( n ‐butyl acrylate) Microstructure
Author(s) -
Yadav Arvind Kumar,
Barandiaran María Jesús,
de la Cal José Carlos
Publication year - 2014
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.201300159
Subject(s) - miniemulsion , emulsion polymerization , emulsion , polymerization , materials science , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , acrylate , polymer , butyl acrylate , monomer , microstructure , molar mass distribution , composite material , engineering
Polymer chain microstructure is one of the most important characteristics determining the end‐use properties of the latexes, and it is defined mainly in the reactor. In this work, the influence of the emulsion or miniemulsion process as well as that of the batch or continuous tubular reactor on the microstructure of the n ‐butyl acrylate containing latexes is analyzed. It is found that, under similar experimental conditions, miniemulsion polymerization leads always to lower gel content than emulsion, because of the higher average monomer concentration during polymerization. Further, emulsion polymerizations performed in the continuous tubular reactor allow to obtain free‐gel containing latexes, if the pre‐emulsion feed is sonicated prior to enter into the reactor. In addition, the better control of the temperature on the tubular reactors leads to narrower molecular weight distribution latexes than the batch reactors in emulsion polymerization.