AZEOTROPY IN TERPOLYMERISATION REACTIONS OF GLYCIDYLMETHACRYLATE WITHALKYL ACRYLATES AND ACRYLONITRILE

Ternary copolymerisation of glycidylmethacrylate (GMA), with different alkyl acrylates (methylacrylate (MA), methylmethacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BuA) and n-butylmethacrylate (n-BuMA)) and acrylonitrile (AN )) were carried out in solution at 65-degrees-C in the presence of a f ree radical initiator. Experimental terpolymerisation data agree well with calculations based on the Alfrey-Goldfinger equation. The determi nation of unitary, binary and ternary azeotropes of the various system s studied was easily handled by a computer. Ternary azeotropic composi tions for GMA-MMA-AN and GMA-nBuMA-AN systems were found to be 17.50:6 8.50:14.00 and 51.00:3.00:46.00 mol%. respectively. Also, 'pseudo-azeo tropic' regions were identified where the deviation between feed and p olymer compositions was very small.