Polymerization in Confined Space

• Main Author: Stefandl, Roland E.
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Polymers; Chemical engineering
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7916/D83J3KXR

Polymerization of acrylamide in confined space was studied. The system used for the polymerization was a colloid of water/SDS/dodecane/pentanol. The colloidal was stable through the polymerization process only at specific compositions. The system revealed a lamellar water structure which housed the gamma initiated reaction prior and after polymerization the lamellar was birefringent. The polymer was characterized for its size and distribution. SANS which was employed to measure the colloidal system for swelling of the lamellar phase during all sections of the polymerization process showed a consistant lamellar thickest through all multicomponent transitions. The system was also observed under high shear showing thinning viscosity for synthesized polyacrylamide and a yield viscosity for very high molecular weight linear polyacrylamide.