Shin-etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.

Niichiro Hasegawa

Toshihide Shimizu

Ichiro Kaneko

Shunichi Koyanagi

Sensaku Katusima

Sensaku Katsushima

A novel and improved method for polymerizing a vinyl monomer in a polymerization reactor is provided. The inner walls of the polymerization reactor and other surfaces coming into contact with the monomer are coated with an aqueous liquid containing at least one alkali metal or ammonium salt of an anionic dye of the sulfonic carboxylic acid form and having a pH value adjusted not to exceed 7 by aid of a pH adjusting agent, and the thus coated surfaces are dried with heat before the polymerization is conducted. The method serves to greatly reduce the deposition of polymer scale on those surfaces and, consequently, improve the productivity as well as the quality of polymer product.

Method for the polymerization of vinyl monomers

In the emulsion polymerization of a dienic monomer or a mixture containing a dienic monomer and at least one other copolymerizable monomer in an aqueous medium, the deposition of polymer scale on the inner walls of the polymerization reactor and other surfaces in contact with the monomer or monomeric mixture can be remarkably reduced or prevented by providing coating layers of an organopolysiloxane on those surfaces, prior to the polymerization, by applying the organopolysiloxane directly to the surfaces or by applying one or a mixture of hydrolyzable organosilanes to the surfaces, followed by hydrolysis-condensation of the silanes, to form the organopolysiloxane in situ.

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Joetsu, Japan

Niichiro Hasegawa