Particle structure of PVC based on cellulosic suspension system

Abstract

Polymerization of vinyl chloride was studied using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as the suspension system. The results indicate that decreasing the molecular weight of HPMC while maintaining the same substitution increases the resin porosity for PVC. The partition coefficients of HPMC in vinyl chloride and water were determined and used to correlate with resin porosity. The salt content of HPMC was found to have negligible effect on particle morphology. A mechanism for the development of particle structure is suggested based on the alternation of packing mode and degree of coalescence among primary particles as affected by HPMC that has been solubilized in the monomer droplet.