ISSN:
0021-8995
Schlagwort(e):
Chemistry
;
Polymer and Materials Science
Quelle:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Thema:
Chemie und Pharmazie
,
Maschinenbau
,
Physik
Notizen:
The steady state approximation in free radical polymerization is known to break down during the operation of commercial reactors, in which case the unsteady mole balance of polymer radicals have to be solved numerically. We observed that the differential equations governing the zeroth, first, and second moments of polymer radicals in free radical polymerization are nonlinear in nature. The numerical solution of these is “stiff” because the concentration of polymer radicals is very small. Assuming an isothermal reactor, in the absence of the gel effect, these differential equations can be transformed in a suitable new domain where they are linear and can be solved analytically. We have subsequently developed a computer program for nonisothermal reactors in the presence of the gel effect using the analytical solution between any time increment. The results have been compared with those obtained from the fourth order Runge-Kutta technique. We show that when the temperature changes are fast, the Runge-Kutta technique cannot handle the stiffness, and the results begin to deviate from the exact solution. We find that our computer program is computationally efficient in handling this stiffness, takes considerably less time, and can be adapted to any personal computer.
Zusätzliches Material:
22 Ill.
Materialart:
Digitale Medien
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/app.1992.070450201
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