4.

MANUFACTURE OF POLYSTYRENE

The manufacture of polystyrene usually involves two sepa-

rate process steps; the first is polymerization, the second

pelletization or coloring. The polymerization step, a chemical

reaction, was described in the previous chapter. The coloring

step requires changing the physical form or appearance of the

product without changing its chemical characteristics.

In general the polymerization of styrene requires heating

the liquid hydrocarbon with or without initiators (peroxides).

As was indicated in Chapter 3, the reaction of styrene with

styrene radicals is a chain reaction which not only results in

the formation of a polymer but also produces heat in con-

siderable quantities. vIn manufacturing polystyrene the styrene

monomer must be heated to start the reaction; once starred,

however, the heat must be removed. ^Removing the heat of

reaction is a major engineering problem in the manufacture

of polystyrene. This problem is complicated by the fact that

as polystyrene forms the styrene-polystyrene solution becomes

increasingly viscous. As viscosity increases heat conductivity

decreases; the resulting temperature increase accelerates the

reaction. Thus high viscosity greatly magnifies the problem

of removing the heat of reaction and controlling the tempera-

ture of the solution.

Proper control of temperature during the reaction is essen-

tial since the uniformity of the final product is dependent

largely on the reproducibility of the actual reaction tempera-

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