Thermal and radiation‐induced polymerizations of N‐tert‐butylacrylamide and (N‐tert‐butylacrylamide)2–ZnCl2 complex

Abstract

AbstractThe thermal and radiation‐induced in‐source and postirradiation polymerizations of N‐tert‐butylacrylamide and (N‐tert‐butylacrylamide)2–ZnCl2 complex of this monomer were studied at various temperatures. In in‐source, solid‐state polymerizations of monomer and complex the conversion was about 95% at 21°C in about eight days. Their postirradiation polymerizations were also studied in solid state. The conversion‐time curves of these two systems show an autoacceleration as in‐source polymerization. In both types of polymerization the overall rate of polymerization of complex was higher than that of pure monomer at the same polymerization temperature. In investigations of the thermal polymerization of N‐tert‐butylacrylamide and ZnCl2‐complex it was observed that the ZnCl2‐complex system can be polymerized in air in the molten and solid state. The conversion of monomer to polymer reaches limiting values in solid state in about 1 hr. The thermal polymerization of ZnCl2‐complex in the molten state was also studied and 100% conversion was obtained in 30 min. The thermal polymerization of pure monomer was studied in vacuum and an appreciable amount of polymer was obtained in the molten state; however, the thermal polymerization of this monomer is negligible in solid state. In this work rates of polymerization for N‐tert‐butylacrylamide and (N‐tert‐butylacrylamide)2–ZnCl2 are compared under various experimental conditions and overall activation energies are calculated.