화학공학소재연구정보센터
Composite Interfaces, Vol.11, No.1, 67-82, 2004
Real time monitoring of temperature variation and optical transmission during gelation of acrylamide (AAm) at various crosslinker contents
Free radical crosslinking copolymerization (FCC) of acrylamide (AAm) with various amounts of N,N'-methylenebis(acrylamide) (Bis) is performed at different onset temperatures (T,,,). Variation of temperature, T, and optical transmission, I-tr, are monitored in real time during the gelation process. The decrease in I-tr is modeled by the monomer consumption rate, and the gelation activation energies, DeltaE(G), are measured at each Bis content. During FCC, temperature increases to a certain level then decreases to its initial value as the gelation time increases, which is explained by the heat released during the polymerization process. Decrease in I-tr is attributed to the increase' in scattered light intensity, I-sc, during the formation of interconnected microgels in the system. It is observed that the number of microgels increases as the onset temperature, T-on, is increased. At a given temperature, high Bis content samples produce larger size of microgel particles compared to low Bis content samples.