2. Mass polymerization
2.1 Crystal and impact polystyrene (HIPS)
Polystyrene is a commodity polymer found in several forms, including crystal polystyrene developed for its optical properties, impact polystyrene which incorporates polybutadiene to improve its impact resistance, expanded polystyrene and ion exchange resins.
Of all these forms, only crystal PS is actually obtained by free-radical polymerization in a homogeneous medium, since a single-phase medium is observed throughout the reaction. The main steps involved in the production of crystal PS are described below.
For more information, see Polystyrene - Continuous polymerization
The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference
This article is included in
Plastics and composites
This offer includes:
Knowledge Base
Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees
Services
A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources
Practical Path
Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills
Doc & Quiz
Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading
Mass polymerization
Solution polymerization
Bibliography
Patents
Process for the production of poly-epsilon-caprolactones and poly-epsilon-caprolactones with high molecular weights obtainable by this process. Solvay EP 0 626 405 B1 (1994).
Bulk reactive extrusion polymerization process producing aliphatic ester polymer compositions. US Pat. 5,969,089 (1999).
Batchwise preparation of crosslinked, finely divided polymers BASF. US Pat. 4,873,299...
The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference
