Ceskoslovenska Akademie Ved

Ivan Wichterle

Otto Wichterle

The invention pertains to apparatus for casting polymeric gels from volatile mixtures of monomers in open molds. The principle of the invention resides in the fact that the same concentrations of volatile components present in the polymerization mixture are also present in the gaseous state within a protective gas maintained above the free surface of the polymerization mixture, the gaseous volatile components being in the equilibrium state with those in the polymerization mixture at polymerization temperature. The apparatus includes a main pipe branch which introduces a pure protective gas into a polymerization apparatus and at least one auxiliary pipe branch for saturating the protective gas with a volatile component. These main and auxiliary pipe branches are formed by an inlet pipe connected to a control valve for setting a constant volume flow-rate and further leading to a device for measurement of the flow rate, where their outlet pipes are connected to a common inlet entering the polymerization apparatus and a saturator for a pure volatile component of the monomer mixture is arranged within the auxiliary branch before the outlet pipe.

Method for casting polymeric gels from volatile mixtures of monomer in

The invention pertains to a method for casting polymeric gels from volatile mixtures of monomers in open molds and to apparatus for performing this method. The principle of the invention resides in the fact that the same concentrations of volatile components present in the polymerization mixture are also present in the gaseous state within a protective gas maintained above the free surface of the polymerization mixture, said gaseous volatile components being in the equilibrium state with those in the polymerization mixture at polymerization temperature. The apparatus for performing said method comprises a main pipe branch which introduces a pure protective gas into a polymerization apparatus and at least one auxiliary pipe branch for saturating the protective gas with a volatile component. These main and auxiliary pipe branches are formed by an inlet pipe connected to a control valve for setting a constant volume flow-rate and further leading to a device for measurement of the flow rate, where their outlet pipes are connected to a common inlet entering the polymerization apparatus and a saturator for a pure volatile component of the monomer mixture is arranged within the auxiliary branch before the outlet pipe.

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Praha, Czechoslovakia

Ivan Wichterle