The inverse emulsion polymerization of acrylamide with pentaerythritolmyristate as emulsifier. 2. Mathematical modelling

A mathematical model of the inverse emulsion polymerization of aqueous acrylamide solutions in isooctane as dispersing media with the chemically pure emulsifier pentaerythritolmonomyristate and an oil-soluble azo initiator has been developed. A Monte Carlo method was used successfully to calculate the kinetics, molar mass averages and average particle sizes. The computation time of the method was reduced by calculating the chain length of the polymer molecules via the life-time of the radicals. It is shown that a few assumptions based on the mirror image of an ideal conventional emulsion polymerization with Smith–Ewart case 2 kinetics are sufficient to comprehensively describe the experimental findings. © 1998 SCI.