CATIONIC HETEROGENEOUS COPOLYMERIZATION OF OCTAMETHYLCYCLOTETRASILOXANE WITH 7-TETRAMETHYL-1,3,5,7-TETRAVINYLCYCLOTETRASILOXANE - OPTIMIZATION OF REACTION CONDITIONS

Copolymerization of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D-4) with ,7-tetrame tyl-1,3,5,7-tetravinylcyclotetrasiloxane (V-4) by heterogeneous acid c atalysis has been carried out. In order to find the optimal conditions of the reaction, a second-order experimental design was performed wit h reaction time, reaction temperature, amount of catalyst, and the ini tial molar fraction of the monomers as independent parameters. By data processing, response surfaces of monomer conversion and copolymer com position were obtained, which were studied by eigenvalues analysis and by plotting in 2-D fields. It was found that the most important facto rs of influence were reaction temperature for the monomer conversion a nd the initial monomer molar fraction for the copolymer final composit ion.