title: Real-time analysis of the polymerization kinetics of 1,4-butanediol and 4,4'-diphenylmethanediisocyanate by fiber-coupled Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
abstract: Polyurethanes are a polymer class with large property diversity. However, despite their extreme technical importance, only few research data regarding the on-line analysis and the derivation of kinetic polymerization data are available in the literature. The present work focuses on the in-line monitoring of the solution polymerization of 4,4'-diphenylmethanediisocyanate and 1,4-butanediol by fiber-coupled FT-IR spectroscopy in the attenuated total reflection (ATR) mode at variable temperatures and the interpretation of the spectral changes as a function of polymerization progress. Furthermore, the activation energy of the solution polymerization will be derived from the kinetic data and experimental issues of the ATR in-line measurement mode will be addressed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Schützenbahn 70, 45117, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schuchardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Schützenbahn 70, 45117, Essen, Germany. hw.siesler@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Heinz W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Siesler
keywords: In-line fiber-coupled FT-IR/ATR spectroscopy; Polyurethane polymerization kinetics