ANIONIC POLYMERIZATION OF LACTAMS IN MICRODISPERSION. I. KINETIC ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS OF CAPROLACTAM POLYMERIZATION

Kinetics of the anionic polymerization of caprolactam (CL) in microdispersion was investigated at temperatures between 90 and 130°C and at stirring rates between 500 and 2000 rpm, respectively. For the investigated range of temperature data analysis showed pseudo-first order kinetics with respect to the monomer concentration. The rate constants are strongly influenced by temperature, increasing with the increase in temperature. For the associated activation energy, a value of 22.51 kJ/mol was obtained. The reaction order is also influenced by the hydrodynamic regime. It seems that below a threshold value of Reynolds Number, the rate of the reaction is independent of the concentration of CL, following pseudo-zero-order kinetics, which is replaced by first-order kinetics above this threshold value of N _Re. However, in the second region of N _Re, the values of rate constant are almost independent of N _Re.