A kinetic study of butyl acrylate free radical polymerization in benzene solution

Full Paper: The free radical polymerization of butyl acrylate has been stud ied in benzene solutions ranging from 1 to 5 mol.L-1 at 50 degrees C using 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator. Under the conditions of our exper iments, both the effective rate coefficient for initiation, 2fk(d), and the coupled parameter, k(p)/k(t)(1/2), (where k(p) and k(t) are the constants for propagation and termination reactions, respectively) are dependent on t he monomer concentration. The 2fk(d) value shows little increase with monom er concentration. The variation of the k(p)/k(t)(1/2) parameter has been co rrelated with the chain length dependence of the termination rate coefficie nt. This effect is also responsible for the high dependence of the overall polymerization rate, R-p, onthe monomer concentration (1.49).