Radiation‐induced heterogeneous polymerization of acrylamide in acetone and acetone–water mixtures

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Abstract
The effects of temperature, dose rate, and monomer concentration on the heterogeneous polymerization of acrylamide in acetone–water mixtures have been studied. Heterogeneous polymerization takes place in mixtures containing less than 60 vol‐% water. The polymerization is steady in acetone and nonsteady in acetone an nonsteady in mixtures containing 10–50 vol‐% water. The average rate of polymerization is highest in mixtures with about 20 vol‐% water. Polymer molecular weight increases with the increasing water content in range 0–10 vol‐% and does not change in the range of 30–70 vol‐% water. For the polymerization in acetone and an acetone–water 60/40 mixture the activation energies are 2.3 and −1.8 kcal/mole, the dose rate exponents of rate are 0.78 and 0.52, and the monomer concentration exponents of rate are 0.5 and 1.6, respectively. The polymer molecular weight increases with decreasing dose rate, decreasing temperature, and increasing monomer concentration. These results are discussed in connection with the mechanism of heterogeneous polymerization and the solvent effect.