Frontal radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in a cylindrical flow reactor

The radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in a cylindrical flow reactor under the action of dicyclohexylperoxydicarbonate, benzoyl peroxide, and tert-butyl peroxide was investigated. At a monomer consumption rate above 2.5 l/h, a stationary autowave polymerization process is established in the reactor, with the front coordinate linearly depending on the consumption rate. Effects of the type and concentration of the initiators or their mixtures, the temperature, and the flow velocity on the structure of thermal autowaves, the degree of monomer conversion, and the molecular-mass characteristics of the synthesized polymer were studied. The process initiated by a mixture of initiators shows evidence of a splitting of the thermal wave into two components corresponding to sequential polymerizations under the action of each individual component. The frontal polymerization in a cylindrical continuous flow reactor is characterized by low conversions and cannot ensure sufficiently high molecular mass and polydispersity of the products.