Study of the isothermal free radical polymerization of some higher N-alkyl methacrylates

The free radical polymerizations of higher n-alkyl methacrylates were not investigated in detail until now. In this work, the courses of the isothermal free radical bulk polymerization of dodecyl, quatrodecyl and hexadecyl methacrylates were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. The effects of the polymerization temperature and the alkyl group length in the esters on the monomer conversions during polymerization were studied. It was found that the polymerization rate vs. time curves have two maxima. The free radical polymerizations of above-mentioned monomers proceed with slightly expressed gel effect at the temperatures below 90 deg C, at initiator concentration 1 mass% in monomer.