Evaluation of heterophase polymerizations by means of reaction calorimetry

Reaction calorimetry is a powerful tool for systematic investigations of heterophase polymerizations. The heat flow-time or heat flow-conversion profiles clearly reflect any changes of the recipe components. Results of batch heterophase polymerizations are presented proving the dependence of the reaction rate profiles on the water solubility of the monomers, on the presence of a chain transfer agent, on the type and concentration of the stabilizer and the initiator, respectively, and on the polymerization temperature. A complete mechanistic interpretation of this data collection is nowadays still impossible. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.