SUSPENSION POLYMERIZATION OF STYRENE UNDER ULTRASONIC IRRADIATION

Abstract

The suspension polymerization of styrene under ultrasonic irradiation was carried out in batch and continuous stirred tank reactors. In both reactors, it was confirmed that ultrasonic irradiation was an effective method to prevent the agglomeration between droplets and sticking of droplets to the reactor wall.
In the batch reactor, the effects of ultrasonic irradiation on the conversion of monomer and the average molecular weight of polymer were negligibly small.
In the continuous reactor, the experimental results of the conversion and the average molecular weight showed that the interaction between droplets in the reactor was not small. The calculated results in the two extreme cases of complete micro-mixing and complete segregation showed that the conversion and the average molecular weight were noticeably affected by the interaction between droplets in the region, where the gel effect became remarkable.