KINETIC-STUDIES ON THE NORMAL-ALKYL ACRYLATE POLYMERIZATION

Kinetic studies on the polymerization of n-butyl acrylate and n-octadecyl acrylate in toluene at 70-degrees-C with benzoyl peroxide as initiator are reported. High monomer orders of 1.55 and 1.75 were obtained for n-butyl and n-octadecyl acrylates, respectively. Though the initiator order in butyl acrylate polymerization was 0.5, the octadecyl acrylate polymerization showed less than square root initiator order. The activation energy for the polymerization of both the acrylates was determined. Autoacceleration was found even at low conversions. The autoacceleration was influenced by both monomer and initiator concentration. Molecular weight data was presented in support of the gel effect.