62 Polystyrene

Suspension_Pjplymerization. Another method for poly-

merizing styrene employs suspension polymerization; this

process is used by Koppers Company, Inc. and several other

■ producers in the United States and abroad (see Figure 4.2).

-7Mln suspension polymerization styrene is dispersed in water

with the aid of organic or inorganic dispersants such as poly-

vinylalcohol_oxcalcium phosphate. jGenerally polymerization

is carried out in a stirred, jacketed autoclave. The final prod-

uct is in the form of small beads or pearls which are washed

to remove dispersants, dried and then converted into pellets

by an extrusion step similar to that described in the preceding

section. Colorants, when used, are added at this stage.

The suspension system has a major advantage over other

polymerization procedures .^The water serves as a heat trans-

fer medium and keeps the monomer-polymer beads at_a_uni-

fr.rm tppipRratiire As a result a more uniform product is

obtained than is possible with any other procedurej Standard

equipment can be used and therefore capital investment re-

duced. In one application where exact lot-to-lot reproducibil-

i ity in polymer processing properties is required, only suspen-

sion polymers have been found to be satisfactory.

Emulsion Polymerization. This process, used for making

most of the synthetic rubber manufactured in the United

States, involves a dispersion of styrene in water. Because the

dispersion or emulsion requires appreciable quantities of a

soap or surfactant, difficult to remove from the product, emul-

sion polymerization is not satisfactory for making colorless

transparent plastic, nor is it used for making molding or

extrusion grades of regular polystyrene. It is employed, how-

ever, to produce the polystyrene latex used in water-base

coatings. A fine polystyrene powder also can be obtained with

this system.

One process for making modified polystyrenes employs

polystyrene latex as an intermediate. It has some industrial

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