Abstract
Abstract In polymer technologies, various particle shapes and size distributions can be found. One of these are heterodisperse polymer beads. The capabilities of polymer swelling can be used in industries, e.g in the production of ion-exchange resins, to intensify specific technological steps such as sulphonation in the manufacturing process of ion-exchange resins. According to the literature different approaches can be used to create models for describing the behavior of disperse systems, of which the simplest models are the particle size distribution models for a given state of the solid phase. The aim of our examination was to compare and evaluate these simple models in terms of modeling polymer swelling. Hence, most of these models examine how each of the investigated models can be applied to approximately describe growth in a heterodisperse polymer system and how the identified model parameters in each time step could be interpreted. All the models were fitted to generate particle size distributions based on a swelling rate constant. The swelling of a styrene divinylbenzene-based copolymer was chosen as the basis of our examination. A model is proposed that is capable of describing the changes in the size of beads over time in this system.
Highlights
Polymer beads are used as raw materials in a wide range of technologies, e.g. in the production of ion-exchange resins
One of the steps is the swelling of the polymer beads
Our aim was to examine the swelling of the polymer beads from a different point of view to find out if a simple particle size distribution (PSD) model exists which may be able to describe changes in size of this system
Summary
Polymer beads are used as raw materials in a wide range of technologies, e.g. in the production of ion-exchange resins. Before the chemical modification of polymer beads, they are often swollen with different types of swelling agents such as dichloroethane, dichloromethane, toluene, etc. Monodisperse and heterodisperse types of beads are known in polymer technologies. The process of the swelling of monodisperse beads is measurable and predictable. The production of monodisperse polymers is a more expensive process than the production of heterodisperse beads, which makes heterodisperse polymer beads a more popular form. Heterodisperse polymer beads exhibit a closely normal distribution in terms of particle size. The prediction of the swelling of these particle systems is more difficult because the different beads can swell at significantly different rates due to the change in the specific area of each bead
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