Demands on polymeric material manufacturers are constantly evolving, driven by the need to increase production rates and produce new materials with existing facilities, and the desire to modify or replace existing processes with more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly versions. Our research develops the understanding and methodology required to help achieve these goals, using a variety of experimental and simulation tools. Pulsed-laser experimental techniques have greatly improved estimates of key propagation and termination radical polymerization rate coefficients. These advances create an opportunity to develop more reliable kinetic models, and are leading to an improved understanding of secondary reactions (depropagation ; back-biting, branching, and scission ; penultimate propagation kinetics in copolymerization) and the influence of solvent choice on reaction rate and polymer structure. Examples are taken from ongoing projects studying the polymerization of water soluble monomers (e.g., acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymers), the production of solvent-borne acrylics for automotive coatings under higher-temperature conditions, and the development of continuous reactor systems for copper-catalyzed controlled radical polymerization.
Contact local ICGM : Dr. Julien Pinaud (équipe IAM)