KINETICS AND MECHANISMS OF EMULSION POLYMERIZATION OF VINYLIDENE-CHLORIDE - I - EFFECTS OF OPERATING VARIABLES ON THE RATE OF POLYMERIZATION AND THE NUMBER OF POLYMER PARTICLES PRODUCED

Emulsion polymerization of vinylidene chloride was carried out at 50 d egrees C using sodium lauryl sulfate as emulsifier and potassium persu lfate as initiator, respectively. Contrary to the results so far repor ted, the stirring rate did not affect the progress of the polymerizati on and such an abnormal kinetic behavior as the rate of polymerization suddenly drops in the course of polymerization was not observed. The number of polymer particles produced was proportional to the 0.7 power of the concentration of emulsifier forming micelles and to the 0.3 po wer of the initial initiator concentration, respectively, and was inde pendent of the initial monomer concentration. The rate of polymerizati on was in proportion to the 0.3 power of the concentration of emulsifi er forming micelles, to the 0.5 power of the initial initiator concent ration, to the 0.2 power of the initial monomer concentration, and to the 0.45 power of the number of polymer particles, respectively. (C) 1 998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.