MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF AQUEOUS SUSPENSION POLYMERIZATION PROCESSES .1. MODELING AND SIMULATIONS

The modeling and simulation of free radical polymerizations in different processes (bulk, solution, suspension, emulsion, dispersion) should not require altered sets of kinetic rate constants for the same monomer or monomer mixture system. Appropriate handling of the different physical picture in each process and an accurate description of all the elemental steps (physical and chemical phenomena) can result in universal models built on the common kinetic mechanism of free-radical polymerizations. In this work we have extended our homogeneous free radical polymerization model to consider the suspension polymerization of partially water-soluble monomers. Simulation results from this model are compared to experimental results from the literature and from our own suspension polymerization experiments.