DOI: 10.1063/1.1746951. Kinetics of Emulsion Polymerization

10.1063/1.1746951

Crossref journal-article

AIP Publishing

The Journal of Chemical Physics (317)

Abstract

As a basis for understanding emulsion polymerization, the kinetics of free radical reactions in isolated loci is discussed subject to the condition that the free radicals are supplied to the loci from an external source. Three cases of interest are considered: that in which the average number of free radicals per locus is small compared with unity, that in which this number approximates one-half, and that in which the number is large. Of these three possibilities, the second, in which the free radicals per locus approximate one-half, is by far the most interesting as it explains in a satisfactory manner the characteristic features of styrene emulsion polymerization. For this case the average rate of reaction per locus is independent of the size of the locus, since this rate is simply one-half the rate of polymerization of a single free radical. Thus the rate of emulsion polymerization, the concentration of monomer in the loci, and the number of loci present provide the information needed for calculating the chain propagation constant for the monomer. A simplified treatment is given for approximating the number of reaction loci (polymer particles) produced in emulsion polymerization when the rate of polymerization per locus is constant (see case 2 above). The law obtained indicates that the number of particles should increase with the soap concentration (3/5ths power) and with the rate of formation of free radicals (2/5ths power), but should decrease with increasing rate of growth of the free radicals (−2/5ths power).

Bibliography

Smith, W. V., & Ewart, R. H. (1948). Kinetics of Emulsion Polymerization. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 16(6), 592â599.

Authors 2

Wendell V. Smith (first)
Roswell H. Ewart (additional)

References 7 Referenced 1,231

10.1002/pol.1946.120010604 / J. Pol. Sci. (1946)
10.1002/pol.1946.120010611 / J. Pol. Sci. (1946)
10.1063/1.1724054 / J. Chem. Phys. (1945)
10.1063/1.1724062 / J. Chem. Phys. (1946)
10.1021/ja01198a053 / J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1947)
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Dates

Type	When
Created	20 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 5, 2005, 7:18 p.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 6 months ago (Feb. 8, 2024, 8:04 a.m.)
Indexed	6 days, 2 hours ago (Aug. 29, 2025, 6:25 a.m.)
Issued	77 years, 3 months ago (June 1, 1948)
Published	77 years, 3 months ago (June 1, 1948)
Published Print	77 years, 3 months ago (June 1, 1948)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Smith_1948, title={Kinetics of Emulsion Polymerization}, volume={16}, ISSN={1089-7690}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1746951}, DOI={10.1063/1.1746951}, number={6}, journal={The Journal of Chemical Physics}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Smith, Wendell V. and Ewart, Roswell H.}, year={1948}, month=jun, pages={592–599} }

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