Tetrafluoroethylene → Hfp tfe

Participants

Reaction Steps

A 400-mL pressure vessel was loaded with 100 mL of deionized water. The pressure vessel was then chilled and maintained around -20° C. while further loading with 5 mL of 0.06M HFPO dimer peroxide in octafluoro-1,4-dithiane, pulling the air off with a vacuum pump, adding 240 g of hexafluoropropylene, and finally adding 50 g of tetrafluoroethylene. Polymerization was carried out at ~35° C. with pressure dropping from 118 to 102 psi over about 4 to 5 hours. The product was washed two times with 200 mL of methanol and once with 200 mL of Freon® 113, filtered, and dried under vacuum, giving 33.8 g of white powder. Infrared analysis found 9.0 wt % hexafluoropropylene in the copolymer suggesting ~61% conversion on the part of the tetrafluoroethylene. Under melt indexer conditions, melt flow was 4.0 g/min at 372° C. with a 5-kg weight.

Provenance & Evidence