Copolymer Composition Control Policies: Characteristics and Applications

Abstract

Characteristics of three classes of copolymer composition control policies are presented and discussed with applications on several typical copolymer systems at the simulation stage. The effects of these policies are shown on polymerization rate, copolymer composition, and molecular weight, branching and sequence length properties. Extensions to terpolymerizations (and hence, other multi‐component polymerizations) are also modeled and presented. Generalized procedures for practical implementation and comparisons among policies are highlighted, and special cases of these policies are investigated.

Keywords:

• copolymer composition
• copolymerization
• terpolymerization
• composition control policies
• free radical polymerization
• gradient block copolymers

Acknowledgements

T. Fujisawa would like to acknowledge Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. and the University of Waterloo for full support during his research stay at the University of Waterloo, Institute for Polymer Research (IPR). A. Penlidis thanks Sumitomo Chemical and the Canada Research Chair (CRC) program of NSERC.