Copolymerization parameters

Abstract

To the researcher who is continually attempting to fabricate salable polymers from new monomers or combinations of monomers, it is often desirable to be able to predict fairly closely the composition of the copoly- mers he might try to make. For high-conversion methods he has little problem. However, for low-conversion processes, or for processes based on difficultly polymerizable monomers, it is useful to apply the principles developed by Alfrey J. Chem. Phys., 12,205 (1944) 1, Mayo J. Am. Chem. Xoc., 66, 1594 (1944), Wall J. Am. Chem. Xoc., 66, 2050 (1944), Price J. Polymer Sci., 2, 101 (1947), and others to aid in the prediction of copoly- mer composition By these principles, it is possible to approximate, with the exception of a few perverse systems, the starting feeds required to produce a desired copolymer composition. Dctermination of the relative reactivity ratios for only a few system:, with a new monomer allows the calculation of the copolymerization parameters, Q and e, for that monomer. Subsequently, the relativc reactivity ratios of any tno monomers whose parameters are known may be calculated rather than be determined ex- periment ally. DISCUSSION