Heterophase polymerization is a century-old technology with a wide range of relevant industrial applications, including coatings, adhesives, rubbers, and many other specialized biomedical and high-performance materials. However, due to its multi-scale complexity, it still remains a challenging research topic. Heterophase polymerization is a broad field covering any type of heterogeneous polymerization process resulting in polymer dispersions. Technical realizations comprise emulsion polymerization, dispersion polymerization, suspension polymerization, miniemulsion polymerization, microemulsion polymerization, and others.
This is the first book devoted to the science and technology of heterophase polymerization as generic term and umbrella for all of its technical realizations. It presents, from a modern perspective, the basic concepts and principles required for understanding the kinetics and thermodynamics of heterophase polymerization at different scales including: atomistic, molecular, macromolecular, supramolecular, colloidal, microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic scales. The most important physicochemical mechanisms involved in heterophase polymerization (including particle nucleation, particle aggregation, mass transfer, swelling, spontaneous emulsification, and polymerization kinetics) are critically discussed, always considering the experimental evidence at hand.
Key Features:
- Presents a comprehensive view of heterophase polymerization, valid for all types of heterogeneous polymerization processes.
- Summarizes the most relevant concepts and principles of heterophase polymerization, including historical aspects but also recent progress and future perspectives.
- Covers different topics of heterophase polymerization including: Kinetics, thermodynamics, interfacial phenomena, diffusion and Brownian motion, colloid chemistry, modeling and simulation, and recent advances in the field (kinetics and mechanisms, process engineering, green chemistry, product innovation and novel applications).
- Illustrated throughout with excellent figures and references to accompany each chapter.
