| Abstract: | It is known that the molecular weight distribution (MWD) formed in an emulsion polymerization of ethylene can be bimodal. However, the origin of the bimodality has not been elucidated. In this article, a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted, mostly with parameters reported in the literature. The simulated MWDs are bimodal because of the limited volume effect; that is, the high molecular weight profiles are distorted by the small particle size, which is comparable to the size of the largest branched polymer molecule in a particle. The simulated MWDs agree reasonably well with the experimentally obtained MWDs. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 3426–3433, 2002 |
