REACTION CALORIMETRY IN SLURRY TYPE CHAIN POLYMERIZATIONS

One of the key issues of this study was to use the calorimeter design knowledge gathered from suspension polymerization applications when co nstructing a calorimeter suitable also for studying Ziegler-Natta poly merizations. Special features of Ziegler-Natta and styrene suspension polymerizations were presented in order to construct a polymerization calorimeter which is suitable for the characterization of both polymer izations. The instrumentation of the reaction calorimeter, which is de signed for the investigation of two different kinds of polymerizations is more complicated than for the calorimeter which is suitable for on ly one kind of polymerization. The operation and the maintenance suffe rs somewhat from the complicated nature of the calorimeter but the pro blems can be avoided with a proper design. The reaction calorimeter is a very useful tool in the determination of the change of the heat tra nsfer properties and the change of the viscosity. It is also a very ef fective apparatus in the determination of the polymerization rate. All these determinations are done during a polymerization. The equations and the typical results were presented in this study to show how the c alorimeter is used in styrene suspension polymerization with the parti cular stabilation system.