Synthesis of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Latex Using Batch Emulsion Polymerization Reactor: Experimental and Simulation Study

Abstract

Abstract

The rationale for the present study was to develop Poly(methyl methacrylate) polymer latex, using free radical emulsion polymerization mechanism, in which water acted as the continuous aqueous phase, methyl methacrylate monomer as the dispersed phase, potassium persulfate (KPS) as an initiator and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as the stabilizing agent. PMMA is a versatile thermoplastic resin, used widely because of its excellent performance in optical and medical field. The characterization of developed latex product was ascertained with the help of Fourier transform IR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. In this work, kinetics of polymerization process was investigated by analysis of degree of monomer conversion and rate of polymerization with respect to time. The steady state simulation results obtained for batch reactor using Aspen polymer plus software suite showed a good agreement with the experimental data, where the monomer conversion of 70% was attained. These experimental results were important since it is possible to validate the results generated using simulation.

Keywords: Emulsion polymerization, Aspen polymer plus, simulation, methyl methacrylate, kinetics

Cite this Article

Chitrangda Singh, Trivedia Sumint S., Shriram Prasad. Synthesis of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Latex Using Batch Emulsion Polymerization Reactor: Experimental and Simulation Study. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2016; 4(1): 37–44p.