Study of Kinetics of Dispersion Polymerization of Styrene in Organic Media

The kinetics of dispersion polymerization of styrene in alcohol/methyl or butyl cellosolve was investigated with dried-weigh methods. The reaction parameters, such as concentration of initiator, polymerization temperature, and solvent, play an important role in determine polymerization rate. It was found that polymerization rate increases with the reaction temperature. The apparent activation energy is of 42.2kJ/mole and 52.6kJ/mole for the initial polymerization stage and the stationary polymerization interval. The polymerization rate increases with the concentration of the initiator with approximately 0.67 order dependence at conversion about 5%. It was described that the relation of conversion with the Hansen Parameters of media in detail by analysis of solvent dispersion, polarity and hydrogen bonding contributions. More significant was the result that polymerization rate versus conversion curve consisted of 3 intervals (2 non-stationary and 1 stationary one). The plateau of polymerization rate was observed in the curve of polymerization rate vs. monomer conversion.