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Published on: November 30, 2020
Ultrasonic degradation of butadiene, styrene and their copolymers
P S Sathiskumar1, Giridhar Madras
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India.
Abstract:
Ultrasonic degradation of commercially important polymers, styrene-butadiene (SBR) rubber, acrylonitrile-butadiene (NBR) rubber, styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN), polybutadiene rubber and polystyrene were investigated. The molecular weight distributions were measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). A model based on continuous distribution kinetics approach was used to study the time evolution of molecular weight distribution for these polymers during degradation. The effect of solvent properties and ultrasound intensity on the degradation of SBR rubber was investigated using different pure solvents and mixed solvents of varying volatility and different ultrasonic intensities.
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