Determination of the Contribution of Certain Pertinent Parameters on the Styrene Emulsion Polymerization Using Taguchi Method

The contribution of certain pertinent parameters such as operating temperature, agitation speed, styrene to water mass ratio as well as the concentration of surfactant and initiator and their influence on the styrene emulsion polymerization in a batch stirred tank reactor have been obtained. In this investigation, in contrast with the previous works, the interaction between each pair of pertinent parameter has been estimated and also the validity of the estimated results of this method has been examined experimentally by the styrene conversion obtained at the optimal conditions that suggested by Taguchi method. More over, the particle size distribution and the SEM image at these conditions have been obtained.