Acrylonitrile polymerization from aqueous solution. The role of particle area

Abstract

The polymerization of acrylonitrile from aqueous solution has been studied in the presence of two different sizes of seed particles. The difference in mean diameters remained essentially constant while the masses increased tenfold for the smaller and twofold for the larger particles. This means that the dominant factor determining the relative growth of particles is the particle area. The mechanistic implications of this observation are discussed.