Particle structure of suspension poly(vinyl chloride) and its origin in the polymerization process

The initial stage of the suspension polymerization of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is characterized by the formation of colloidally stable micron-sized grains of PVC inside the polymerizing ca. 150 μm vinyl chloride droplets. The fate of these micron-sized PVC grains depends upon the agitation conditions. If no agitation is employed, they serve as growth centers for further polymerization to give a final particle possessing a uniform internal bead morphology. In agitated systems, these grains coagulate early in the conversion to give a more irregular structure in the interior of the PVC particle. The formation of these stable growth centers appears to be unique to PVC. The polymerization of acrylonitrile, also insoluble in its monomer, is characterized by rapid agglomeration of the precipitated polymer throughout the polymerization. In PVC, the colloidal stability of the polymerizing grains is demonstrated to be electrical in nature. A pericellular membrane or skin formed by polymerization in both the water and vinyl phase completely surrounds the polymerizing droplet after about (1–2)% conversion. This skin is responsible for the charge retention of the PVC grains inside the polymerizing monomer droplets.     

Particle morphology in the early stages of radiation-induced heterophase polymerization of vinyl chloride

Investigations of the particle morphology of poly(vinyl chloride) produced under quiescent conditions during radiation-induced bulk polymerization over the temperature range ?30 to 70°C were carried out. The observations were mainly confined to the early stages of polymerization. For polymerization temperatures below about 20°C, the systems remain predominantly homogeneous during the entire polymerization and the polymer particles increase in size linearly with conversion. At higher temperatures the polymer particles rapidly settle and become cemented together. The findings are discussed in the light of the kinetic data on vinyl chloride polymerization, and a process of particle formation and growth, resembling that recently proposed by Fitch for emulsion systems, was formulated. Primary particles are initially formed by the coiling up of single macromolecules or single macroradicals and, subsequently, they increase in size by sweeping up growing free radicals from the liquid monomer phase. The free radicals which escape capture give rise to new primary particles, but their number progressively decreases as the number of the dispersed particles increases. Simultaneously, the polymer particles undergo flocculation which in a short time results in the formation of large agglomerates. As the volume of the resulting agglomerates increases, the flocculation rate decreases and, eventually, becomes so low that the flocculation does not proceed further. At low temperatures the flocculation almost ceases when the agglomerates are still small enough for sedimentation to occur only very slowly. However, this is not the case at higher temperatures. The addition of substances such as alcohols, brings about a reduction in the flocculation rate and, hence, in the size of the agglomerates formed at the end of the flocculation process. In this way, one can also obtain at high temperatures agglomerates of small sizes which remain dispersed for a long time.     

Vinyl chloride suspension polymerisation and the control of polymer properties

A number of poly(vinyl alcohols), used in the suspension polymerisation of vinyl chloride, have been fractionated and characterised. The most effective had the highest molecular weight and contained the most unsaturation. The more insoluble fractions gave the best balance of product properties. Reactor sampling experiments have been used to determine the mechanism of polymerisation. In most polymerisations, the final grain size is determined by factors that control the coalescence and break-up of the monomer droplets during the first 15% conversion. It is suggested that the structure within the grains is controlled by the formation of a continuous network of PVC primaries which retards droplet contraction.     

Development and characterization of reactive extruded PVC/polyacrylate blends

This paper describes a method to obtain polymer blends by the absorption of a liquid solution of monomer, initiator, and a crosslinking agent in suspension type porous poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) particles, forming a dry blend. These PVC/monomer dry blends are reactively polymerized in a twin‐screw extruder to obtain the in situ polymerization in a melt state of various blends: PVC/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PVC/PMMA), PVC/poly(vinyl acetate) (PVC/PVAc), PVC/poly(butyl acrylate) (PVC/PBA) and PVC/poly(ethylhexyl acrylate) (PVC/PEHA). Physical PVC/PMMA blends were produced, and the properties of those blends are compared to reactive blends of similar compositions. Owing to the high polymerization temperature (180°C), the polymers formed in this reactive polymerization process have low molecular weight. These short polymer chains plasticize the PVC phase reducing the melt viscosity, glass transition and the static modulus. Reactive blends of PVC/PMMA and PVC/PVAc are more compatible than the reactive PVC/PBA and PVC/PEHA blends. Reactive PVC/PMMA and PVC/PVAc blends are transparent, form single phase morphology, have single glass transition temperature (T_g), and show mechanical properties that are not inferior than that of neat PVC. Reactive PVC/PBA and PVC/PEHA blends are incompatible and two discrete phases are observed in each blend. However, those blends exhibit single glass transition owing to low content of the dispersed phase particles, which is probably too low to be detected by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) as a separate T_g value. The reactive PVC/PEHA show exceptional high elongation at break (～90%) owing to energy absorption optimized at this dispersed particle size (0.2–0.8 µm). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Polymerization of vinyl chloride at reduced monomer accessibility. III. Polymerization kinetics and molecular structure using PVC latex as seed

Vinyl chloride was polymerized at 53–97% of the saturation pressure in a water-suspended system at 55°C with an emulsion PVC latex as seed. A water-soluble initiator was used in various concentrations. The monomer was continuously charged as vapor from a storage vessel kept at lower temperature. Characterization included determination of molecular weight distribution and degree of long-chain branching by gel chromatography and viscometry and by thermal dehydrochlorination. To avoid diffusion control intense agitation was necessary. At a certain conversion, aggregation of primary particles resulted in restricted polymerization rate. Before aggregation, formation of new particles did not occur as the number of particles was high enough to ensure capture of all oligoradicals. The kinetic equation accepted for ordinary emulsion polymerization of vinyl chloride was qualitatively found to be valid after the pressure drop as well. Decreased termination rate may result in increased polymerization rate at reduced monomer concentration, i.e., a gel effect, especially at low particle numbers and high polymer contents. The molecular weight decreased with decreasing monomer concentration. This is in accordance with the new mechanism suggested for chain transfer to monomer starting with occasional head-to-head additions.     

Structural Defects in Poly(vinyl chloride) and the Mechanism of Vinyl Chloride Polymerization: Comments on Recent Studies

Investigations in the title areas within the past ten years are summarized and critiqued. The polymerizations studied were performed by conventional free-radical methods. A new mechanism, not yet confirmed, is suggested to explain a reported enhancement in the chloromethyl branch concentration of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) prepared at high conversions of monomer. This mechanism involves an intramolecular 1,5 hydrogen shift in a 1,3,5,6-tetrachlorohexyl radical. Evidence showing that most of the internal double bonds in PVC are not formed via intermolecular H abstraction from internal monomer units is tentatively rationalized, in part, by hydrogen transfer via at least one cyclic transition state containing more than eight members. The absence of free chlorine atoms from polymerizations of vinyl chloride (VC) is reaffirmed, and the copolymerization of VC with the chloroallylic chain ends of PVC is argued to be insignificant. New information in the literature does not invalidate the currently accepted mechanism of vinyl chloride polymerization.     

悬浮-乳液复合聚合聚苯乙烯-聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯复合粒子的颗粒特性和成粒机理

采用在苯乙烯 (St)悬浮聚合过程中滴加甲基丙烯酸甲酯 (MMA)乳液聚合组分的悬浮 乳液复合聚合方法 ,制备大粒径聚苯乙烯 聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯 (PS PMMA)复合粒子 .研究聚合物粒径分布和颗粒形态的变化发现 ,在St悬浮反应中期滴加MMA乳液聚合组分后 ,聚合体系逐渐由悬浮粒子与乳胶粒子并存向形成单峰分布复合粒子转变 ,最终形成核 壳结构完整的大粒径PS PMMA复合粒子 ;在St悬浮反应初期滴加MMA乳液聚合组分 ,St与MMA一起分散成更小液滴 ,反应后期凝并成非核 壳结构复合粒子 ;在St悬浮反应后期滴加MMA乳液聚合组分 ,PMMA乳胶粒子与PS悬浮粒子基本独立存在 .根据以上结果 ,提出了St MMA悬浮 乳液复合聚合的成粒机理 .     

Phase‐equilibrium behavior of vinyl chloride/n‐butane and its application in determination of vinyl chloride heterogeneous polymerization kinetics

Studies of the phase‐equilibrium behavior of vinyl chloride (VCM)/n‐butane mixtures and the kinetics of VCM heterogeneous polymerization, using n‐butane as a reaction medium, were carried out using a 1‐L glass autoclave. The vapor composition was measured by gas chromatography, showing that the vapor pressure of the VCM/n‐butane mixture was located above the line connecting the points for pure VCM and n‐butane. The concentration of VCM in the vapor phase was greater than that in the corresponding liquid phase. It was confirmed that the presence of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) resin had no significant influences on the phase equilibrium of VCM/n‐butane mixtures. Thus, the phase‐equilibrium equations were applied to determine the conversion of VCM during heterogeneous polymerization. The conversions calculated from the variations of vapor pressure or composition agreed with those determined by the weighing method. The conversion–time and polymerization rate–time curves obtained for VCM heterogeneous polymerization showed that the polymerization accelerated at low initiator concentration, but the polymerization rate decreased with an increase of conversion at relatively high initiator concentrations. The chain‐transfer reaction to n‐butane was confirmed by a decrease of the molecular weight and broadening of the molecular weight distribution of PVC. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 39: 2179–2188, 2001     

由一种新型非均相聚合方法制备的聚氯乙烯的分子结构

聚氯乙烯(PVC)树脂通常采用自由基本体聚合、悬浮聚合和乳液聚合方法制备.无链转移剂时,头-尾加成和PVC大分子自由基向单体链转移反应分别是链增长和链终止的主要方式,聚合温度成为影响PVC平均分子量及分子量分布的主要因素.     

Gamma Ray Induced Gaseous Phase Polymerization and Copolymerization of Vinyl Monomers in Bagasse

Gamma-ray induced gaseous phase in situ polymerization of vinyl chloride and copolymerization of vinyl chloride with vinyl acetate in bagasse have been investigated and discussed. The prepared bagasse-plastic combinations were not improved of its mechanical strength owing to the deposited PVC powder and the low copolymer loading in bagasse-board. The viscosity average molecular weight of PVC formed in bagasse-board was found to be slightly higher than that of PVC formed in the in situ liquid polymerization system. No graft reaction of PVC onto bagasse cellulose was observed, while low grade of graft reaction was confirmed with PVC-PVAc copolymer system.     

Polypyrrole-coated poly(vinyl chloride) powder particles: surface chemical and morphological characterisation by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy

Polypyrrole (PPy)-coated poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) powder particles were prepared by the in situ chemical polymerisation of pyrrole in aqueous solutions in the presence of PVC powder particles. The PVC particles in suspension served as a hydrophobic substrate for the in situ polymerisation of pyrrole using iron chloride as the oxidising agent and sodium p-toluene sulfonate. In these conditions, tosylate-doped PPy (PPyTS) was obtained and chlorides were inserted as minor codoping species. In some cases, the pyrrole was polymerised after incubating the PVC particles with poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs showed that the PVC particles retained their initial, quasispherical shape after coating by PPy. At low magnification, the coated PVC particles appeared smooth, but at high magnification, they exhibited a decoration by elementary nanoparticles of about 200-nm size due to PPy bulk powder grains. Elemental analysis indicated a mass loading of PPy in the range 1–58% w/w. Specific surface analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) resulted in the spectra of the PPy-coated PVC particles resembling those of bulk powder PPyTS even for low PPy mass loading. The surface fraction of PPy repeat units was found to vary in the 55–91% range. This result is consistent with the SEM observation of the PPy nanoparticles at the surface of PVC powder grains. However, despite the important loading of PPy, the XPS estimation of the overlayer thickness is in favour of a patchy coating rather than continuous coatings of PPy.     

Structure of reactively extruded rigid PVC/PMMA blends

A novel route for producing polymer blends by reactive extrusion is described, starting from poly (vinyl chloride)/methyl methacrylate (PVC/MMA) dry blend and successive polymerization of MMA in an extruder. Small angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) measurements were applied to study the monomer's mode of penetration into the PVC particles and to characterize the supermolecular structure of the reactive poly(vinyl chloride)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PVC/PMMA) blends obtained, as compared to the corresponding physical blends of similar composition. These measurements indicate that the monomer molecules can easily penetrate into the PVC sub‐primary particles, separating the PVC chains. Moreover, the increased mobility of the PVC chains enables formation of an ordered lamellar structure, with an average d‐spacing of 4.1 nm. The same characteristic lamellar structure is further detected upon compression molding or extrusion of PVC and PVC/PMMA blends. In this case the mobility of the PVC chains is enabled through thermal energy. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and SAXS measurements of reactive and physical PVC/PMMA blends indicate that miscibility occurs between the PVC and PMMA chains. The studied reactive PVC/PMMA blends are found to be miscible, while the physical PVC/PMMA blends are only partially miscible. It can be suggested that the miscible PMMA chains weaken dipole–dipole interactions between the PVC chains, leading to high mobility and resulting in an increased PVC crystallinity degree and decreased PVC glass transition temperature (T_g). These phenomena are shown in the physical PVC/PMMA blends and further emphasized in the reactive PVC/PMMA blends. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

N-叔丁基-α-苯基硝酸酮调控氯乙烯悬浮聚合

以过氧化新癸酸α-异丙苯酯(Lup188)作为引发剂,聚乙烯醇(PVA)和羟丙基甲基纤维素(HPMC)作为复合分散剂,加入N-叔丁基-α-苯基硝酸酮(PBN)用氮氧自由基在40～70℃下调控氯乙烯(VC)悬浮聚合.PBN能有效控制聚氯乙烯链增长,聚合后期无自加速现象,体现出可控/"活性"自由基聚合的特点.用重量法测定转化率、GPC测定聚合物分子量与分布,研究了引发剂用量、PBN用量以及聚合温度对聚合动力学和聚合物分子量及分布的影响.得到该聚合体系下VC、Lup188、PBN的最佳摩尔配比为10000∶7∶1,最佳聚合温度为50℃,将转化率控制在50%以下时,能得到较窄分子量分布的聚氯乙烯产物.     

Polymer particle formation in suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate

Equipment has been designed and assembled in such a way that direct microscopic observation of polymer particle formation in suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate is possible. The apparent mode of transformation from monomer droplets into polymer particles has thus been studied under two sets of conditions: (1) with agitation and (2) without agitation. In both cases, as the initial vinyl acetate/vinyl chloride ratio was raised, the apparent change in the shape and transparency of particles occurring during the course of polymerization became less evident. In vinyl chloride homopolymerization and vinyl acetate–vinyl chloride copolymerization with relatively high vinyl chloride concentrations, the polymer particles burst during the course of polymerization. Some factors which affect the change in the size of particles are also discussed.     

Preparation of Colloidal Rhodium in Poly(vinyl Alcohol) by Reduction with Methanol

Refluxing of a solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) and rhodium(III) chloride in methanol-water gives a colloidal dispersion of rhodium which is an effective catalyst for hydrogenation of cyclohexene in methanol at 30°C under atmospheric hydrogen pressure. Formaldehyde is produced quantitatively with the reduction of rhodium(III) chloride to metallic rhodium. The rhodium particles in the colloidal dispersion are found to consist of two kinds of particles, about 8 and 40 Å in diameter by electron microscopy. The sizes of the small (8 Å) and large (40 Å) particles are almost constant during the course of refluxing. The number of small particles, which is the great majority of particles at the early stage of refluxing, gradually decreases; concurrently the number of large particle increases on prolonged refluxing. An absorption peak appears at 260 nm at the early stage of refluxing. The presence of the 260 nm peak, which indicates the coordination of poly(vinyl alcohol) to rhodium(III) ion, is indispensable for the formation of a homogeneous colloidal dispersion of rhodium. The addition of ethylenediamine inhibits the formation of colloidal rhodium in refluxing. The catalytic activity of colloidal dispersion of rhodium is dependent upon the concentration of rhodium(III) chloride charged and is independent of that of poly(vinyl alcohol). The formation mechanism of colloidal rhodium is discussed.     

Particle morphology in the radiation-induced heterophase polymerization of vinyl chloride with solvent added in small amounts

Investigations were carried out on the polymer particle morphology obtained in the early stages of radiation-induced bulk polymerization of vinyl chloride with solvent added in small amounts over the temperature range of ?10 to 70°C under quiescent conditions. At low temperatures, when the polymerization is carried out in the absence of solvent, there is flocculation of irregular aggregates of two types depending on polymerization conditions: (i) small primary particles that remain finely dispersed and (ii) large flocs that undergo rapid sedimentation. By addition of increasing amounts of solvent a gradual change towards single small spherical particles that remain finely dispersed is obtained. With more than 3% w/w THF, spherical particles in latexlike dispersions are obtained in polymerizations at ?10 and 22.8°C, and show a small change in size with increasing amounts of THF. In the high-temperature range, 50–70°C, where spherical particles can be obtained in the absence of solvent, no significant changes are produced by addition of THF. The results are discussed in the terms of a marked increase in particle plasticization by the solvent, enabling the coalescence of flocculated particles of small size to occur also in polymerization at low temperature.     

One-pot polyvinyl chloride preparation utilizing polyacrylate latex with tertiary amine groups for improved thermal stability,toughness, and reduced reactor scaling

In this paper, crosslinked polyacrylate latex with tertiary amine groups (ACLN) and base latex without tertiary amine groups (ACL) were prepared by emulsion polymerization using butyl acrylate as the monomer and 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker. Composite resins of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), ACL/PVC and ACLN/PVC, were prepared by suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride in a 20 L high-pressure reactor by adding ACL and ACLN as modifiers. The inner pressure of the reactor and initiator concentration as a function of reaction time during suspension polymerization were studied. Morphology of resin particles, processing properties, thermal stability and mechanical properties of ACL/PVC and ACLN/PVC products were investigated. A commercial PVC product named PVC-SG5 was used as the control sample for comparison. It was found that compared with typical PVC-SG5 preparation, ACL/PVC fabrication took less time while initiator concentrations needed to be increased to 2400 ppm in ACLN/PVC preparation in order to complete the polymerization within the same time. Reactor scaling occurred during ACL/PVC preparation, but could be avoided in ACLN/PVC preparation owing to the hydrophilicity of ACLN. The morphology of ACL/PVC and ACLN/PVC particles was smooth microspheres and mosaic particle shapes, respectively, the diameter of which were all smaller than PVC-SG5 particles. The covalent-bonding existing in ACL/PVC and ACLN/PVC, and ionic-bond formation of quaternary ammonium in ACLN/PVC composite resins, between tertiary amine groups in ACLN and chlorine atoms in PVC, contributed to the dramatic increase in thermal stability. ACLN/PVC exhibited the shortest plasticizing time and the longest elongation at break, followed by ACL/PVC. The toughness of both ACL/PVC and ACLN/PVC were greatly enhanced without affecting the tensile strength and softening temperature of the resin. Thus, three issues, namely, low thermal stability, low toughness and reactor scaling during polymerization of PVC have been comprehensively solved by introducing ACLN to PVC through a one-pot method.     

Suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride and the processibility of poly(vinyl chloride)

The most important technological procedure in the production of PVC is the suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride, as processibility of the polymer may be influenced to a considerable extent by the choice of polymerization conditions. Structure heterogeneities in PVC powders manifest themselves in plasticized PVC by the occurrence of “fish eye” particles. This review concerns the formation and properties of these particles and discusses the causes of their difficult processibility. Also, the relation between polymerization process and PVC dehydrochlorination is discussed and a new mechanism of its initiation based on the reactivity of cisoid enone structures is proposed. These structures catalyze elimination of hydrogen chloride from regular units of PVC by an interchain enzyme-like mechanism giving rise to chloroallyl structures.     

Reaction of aluminium chloride with poly(divinyl benzene) particles--a reaction kinetic study using infrared spectroscopy

Porous poly(para-divinylbenzene) and poly(meta-divinylbenzene) particles were synthesised from para-divinylbenzene and meta-divinylbenzene monomers with toluene and 2-ethylhexanoic acid as porogens. The residual vinyl groups in the particles were thereafter reacted using aluminium chloride with dichlorobenzene as a catalyst. The conversion of vinyl groups was followed by analysing polymer particles taken from the reaction mixture at different time intervals. Infrared spectroscopy both in the mid and near infrared region was used as the analytical technique. The intensity changes in the overtone absorption at 1628 nm due to the vinyl bonds were used as the basis for the quantification of the vinyl group consumption. Infrared spectra of the particles in the mid IR were also measured to understand changes taking place in the polymer matrix during the reaction. The results indicated that residual vinyl groups in these polymer particles were consumed during the reaction with aluminium chloride. The reaction of aluminium chloride with the polymer matrix was explained by proposing mechanisms for the formation of different products during the reaction. The complex formed between aluminium chloride and the residual vinyl groups seemed to induce addition of HCl to the vinyl group or leads to crosslinking and/or cyclisation in the case poly(para-DVB) particles. The reaction of aluminium chloride with poly(meta-DVB) takes place to a lesser extent.     

Sterically stabilized emulsion polymerization of styrene: Pseudo‐semicontinuous approach

The sterically stabilized emulsion polymerization of styrene initiated by a water‐soluble initiator at different temperatures has been investigated. The rate of polymerization (R_p) versus conversion curve shows the two non‐stationary‐rate intervals typical for the polymerization proceeding under non‐stationary‐state conditions. The shape of the R_p versus conversion curve results from two opposite effects—the increased number of particles and the decreased monomer concentration at reaction loci as the polymerization advances. At elevated temperatures the monomer emulsion equilibrates to a two‐phase or three‐phase system. The upper phase is transparent (monomer), and the lower one is blue colored, typical for microemulsion. After stirring such a multiphase system and initiation of polymerization, the initial coarse polymer emulsion was formed. The average size of monomer/polymer particles strongly decreased up to about 40% conversion and then leveled off. The initial large particles are assumed to be highly monomer‐swollen particles formed by the heteroagglomeration of unstable polymer particles and monomer droplets. The size of the “highly monomer” swollen particles continuously decreases with conversion, and they merge with the growing particles at about 40–50% conversion. The monomer droplets and/or large highly monomer‐swollen polymer particles also serve as a reservoir of monomer and emulsifier. The continuous release of nonionic (hydrophobic) emulsifier from the monomer phase increases the colloidal stability of primary particles and the number of polymer particles, that is, the particle nucleation is shifted to the higher conversion region. Variations of the square and cube of the mean droplet radius with aging time indicate that neither the coalescence nor the Ostwald ripening is the main driving force for the droplet instability. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 804–820, 2003