A Kinetic Study of the Adiabatic Polymerization of Acrylamide R. A. M. mnlSon1 The Polytechnic, Oueensgate, Huddersfleld, W. Yorks, England. HDl 3DH, U.K. Most studies leading to the evaluation of kinetic parameters for the polymerization of vinyl monomers are carried out under isothermal conditions a t various temperatures. An instructive exercise in simple mathematical modeling involves the use of such data in combination with the relevant kinetic and thermodynamic relationships to predict the characteristics of the same polymerization carried out under adiahatic conditions. The exercise is also useful in demonstrating the application of basic physics to chemical prohlems. is a The aqueous phase polymerization of acrylamide (1,2) very convenient system for the present experiment. Evaporation problems are lessened and the apparatus is fairly easily cleaned on completion of the experiment. Furthermore, the commercial polymerization is frequently carried out virtually adiabatically in aqueous solution. The experiment therefore attempts to simulate a commercial process. The aim of this experiment is to describe the adiabatic process, taking account of reactant and temperature changes by means of the conventional equations presented below. This model is conveniently tested by carrying out such a polymerization in a vacuum flask and comparing the theoretical prediction of the model with the temperature-time curve obtained in practice.
In studies of polymerization, conversion is usually restricted to
