ISSN:
0021-8995
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
,
Physics
Notes:
A novel technique for the control of continuous synthesis of addition polymers with precisely controlled average molecular weight and minimum polydispersity has been developed. A control system adjusts the concentration of chain-transfer agent in the reactor feed to compensate for all other upsets, in the reactor inputs: initiator and monomer concentrations, temperature and feed rate. The technique has been evaluated quantitatively on a digital computer using a kinetic model of homogeneous, free-radical solution polymerization. In computational tests, the modeled control system generally held the instantaneous number-average chain length within 1%, and quickly returned it to the desired value in response to a wide variety of upsets. By generalizing the Schulz distributions to include termination by disproportionation, combination and chain-transfer, it is shown that changes in the molecular-weight distribution resulting from the action of the control system are minor.
Additional Material:
5 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/app.1969.070130703
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