Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company

Ronald L Barber

Thomas A Kotnour

Walter L Krueger

A bulk polymerization process for free radical polymerization of vinyl monomers in a wiped surface reactor is disclosed. Referring to FIG. 1; monomer streams 5 (after purification and silica gel column 2) and 7 are combined with free radical initiator 9 to form a premix 16. Pump 18 transfers the premix stream 22 through static mixer 24 into a wiped surface reactor 27. The reactor can be a counter rotating twin screw extruder which produces polymer stream 36 without the need of solvent and using residence times much shorter than prior art solution or emulsion processes. Some unique pressure sensitive adhesive acrylate polymers have been produced. They are believed to have a relatively high degree of branching. The bulk polymerization process permits the manufacture of pressure sensitive adhesive articles by extruding directly from the twin screw extruder onto a substrate.

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Oakdale, MN, United States of America

Ronald L Barber