Free-radical bulk polymerization of styrene with a new trifunctional cyclic peroxide initiator

Synthesis and Properties of In-Situ Bulk High Impact Polystyrene Toughened by High cis-1,4 Polybutadiene

A series of high impact polystyrenes (HIPS) were successfully prepared by in-situ bulk polymerization. Selective polymerization of butadiene (Bd) in styrene (St) was achieved by using a neodymium bis(2-ethylhexanol)phosphonate/diisobutyl aluminum hydride/diethylaluminum chloride (Nd(P₅₀₇)₃/Al(i-Bu)₂H/AlEt₂Cl) catalyst, affording a prepolymer with high cis-1,4 content of 96.6% and extremely low styrene content of 1.01%. The prepolymer solution was further subjected to the radical polymerization of styrene to produce HIPS. The impact strength of HIPS increased from 48.5 to 166.2 J/m, with an increase of rubber content from 5% to 15%, whereas the tensile strength at break decreased from 17 to 12.5 MPa. Moreover, the impact strength and the tensile strength at break of HIPS increased from 72.4 J/m to 120.6 J/m and 13.2 to 16 MPa, respectively, as the initiator concentration decreased from 0.05% to 0.01%. HIPS showed the highest impact strength of 84.8 J·m⁻¹ and displayed well “salami” morphology when using a trifunctional 3,6,9-triethyl-3,6,9-trimethyl-1,4,7-triperoxonane initiator.

Bulk Polymerization of Styrene using Multifunctional Initiators in a Batch Reactor: A Comprehensive Mathematical Model

A detailed, comprehensive mathematical model for bulk polymerization of styrene using multifunctional initiators – both linear and cyclic – in a batch reactor was developed. The model is based on a kinetic mechanism that considers thermal initiation and chemical initiation by sequential decomposition of labile groups, propagation, transfer to monomer, termination by combination and re-initiation reactions due to undecomposed labile groups. The model predicts the evolution of global reaction variables (e.g, concentration of reagents, products, radical species and labile groups) as well as the evolution of the detailed complete polymer molecular weight distributions, with polymer species characterized by chain length and number of undecomposed labile groups. The mathematical model was adjusted and validated using experimental data for various peroxide-type multifunctional initiators: diethyl ketone triperoxide (DEKTP, cyclic trifunctional), pinacolone diperoxide (PDP, cyclic bifunctional) and 1,1-bis(tert-butylperoxy)cyclohexane (L331, linear bifunctional). The model very adequately predicts polymerization rates and complete molecular weight distributions. The model is used to theoretically evaluate the influence of initiator structure and functionality as well as reaction conditions.

Thermal Decomposition of Diethylketone Cyclic Triperoxide in Polar Solvents

The thermolysis of diethylketone cyclic triperoxide (3,3,6,6,9,9-hexaethyl-1,2,4,5,7,8-hexaoxacyclononane, DEKTP) was studied in different polar solvents (ethanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 2-methyl-2-propanol, and acetonitrile). The rate constant values (kd) are higher for reactions performed in secondary alcohols probably because of the possibility to form a cyclic adduct with the participation of the hydrogen atom bonded to the secondary carbon. The kinetic parameters were correlated with the physicochemical properties of the selected solvents. The products of the DEKTP thermal decomposition in different polar solvents support a radical-based decomposition mechanism.