Structural and thermal characterization of methyl methacrylate/alkyl acrylate copolymers

✍ Scribed by M. Patnaik; V. Choudhary; I.K. Varma

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 378 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0014-3057
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-3057(92)90288-d

✦ Synopsis

Bulk polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with n-hexyl acrylate (HA) or 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (EHA) were carried out using benzoyl peroxide as initiator. Polymer samples were prepared for mole fractions of HA or EHA from 0 to 1 in the initial feed. Molecular characterization of the copolymers and homopolymers was done by gel permeation chromatography and intrinsic viscosity measurements. ~H-NMR spectroscopy was used to determine copolymer compositions. Reactivity ratios were found to be r I (MMA)=4.32 + 0.02, r 2 (HA)= 0.55 +0.02 and r I (MMA)= 1.85__+ 0.01, r 2 (EHA) = 0.42 + 0.01. Samples containing low mole fraction (i.e. < 0.102) of HA or EHA in the backbone showed multistep decompositions. In all other samples, thermal degradation proceeded in a single step. An increase in thermal stability of the copolymers was observed with increase in comonomer content.