ON THE KINETICS OF MICROEMULSION COPOLYMERIZATION OF ACRYLONITRILE

The o/w microemulsion polymerizations and copolymerizations of butyl a crylate (BA), styrene (St), and acrylonitrile (AN) initiated by a wate r-soluble initiator in the presence and absence of additives were inve stigated. Polymerizations and copolymerizations show two distinct nons tationary rate regions. The addition of isopropanol (IPA) was found to decrease the rate of polymerization and the decrease was more pronoun ced in the copolymerization runs. The rate of polymerization and the r ate of particle formation decrease with increasing acrylonitrile conce ntration. The BA/AN copolymer latexes were more stable than the AN/St ones.