Thermal hazard evaluation of styrene-methyl methacrylate bulk copolymerization by differential scanning calorimetry and accelerating rate calorimetry

Thermal runaway primarily occurs during the course of copolymerization due to the release of large amounts of heat. In this paper, the thermal risk associated with styrene-methyl methacrylate bulk copolymerization was firstly investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC). The result found that the exothermic behavior was greatly affected by the initiator concentration, in contrast the exothermic enthalpy was not. This exothermic behavior was firstly illustrated via polymerization mechanism. The temperature and pressure have changed dramatically during the adiabatic runaway copolymerization, which demonstrated a great potential risk of thermal runaway. Kinetic parameters, such as TNR, TSADT was calculated accordingly, which provided guidance for the safety of storage and transportation. This study will provide a helpful safety assessment for the styrene-methyl methacrylate bulk copolymerization, which is widely used in industry.