The available on‐line and in‐line sensor technologies developed for polymerization reactors from 1990 until today are discussed and critically reviewed. About 600 references are included, which evidence the growth in sensor technology in the last two decades. Sensors for operational parameters in polymer reactors (i.e. temperature, pressure, level and flow) as well as sensors for polymer property monitoring (i.e. calorimetry, chromatography and spectroscopy, among others) are included. Complementary topics such as state estimation, multivariate statistical methods, fault diagnosis techniques and optimal sensor selection and location are briefly covered.

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A one-pot, two-step miniemulsion polymerization approach was successfully used to create poly(2-ethyl hexyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate/acrylic acid) pressure sensitive adhesives with well-defined and predictable bimodal particle size distributions (PSDs) or bimodal molecular weight distributions (MWDs). The resulting viscoelastic (shear storage and loss moduli) and adhesive properties (i.e., loop tack, peel strength, and shear strength) were tested and compared to monomodal distributions of either particle size or molecular weight along with bimodal distributions created by postpolymerization blending. The results indicated that in situ bimodal MWDs offered superior values of PSA properties when compared to either monomodal MWDs or postpolymerization blends. Viscoelastic analysis of the in situ bimodal MWD samples showed that the proposed approach can effectively vary the MWDs and cross-linking densities of the resulting PSAs, thus tailoring the final properties. In comparison, the in situ bimodal PSD latexes did not show significant differences in viscoelastic behavior, but they exhibited large differences in PSA properties.

Miniemulsion polymerization is a promising approach to produce and tailor pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs). In this paper, a systematic comparison of the adhesive properties of latexes produced by miniemulsion and conventional emulsion polymerization is presented. Specifically, the influence of the total surfactant concentration, chain transfer agent concentration and chemical composition on the final adhesive properties of the polymer 2‐ethyl hexyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate/acrylic acid was discerned using a 23 factorial design for each polymerization method. In addition to the adhesive properties (i.e., loop tack, peel strength and shear strength), molecular weight distribution, particle size distribution (PSD) and glass transition temperature were analyzed. The results show that under the conditions used in this work, it is possible to produce PSAs using miniemulsion polymerization, a process wherein monomer droplet nucleation is the dominant particle nucleation mechanism. The use of a miniemulsion polymerization process, as opposed to the conventional emulsion technique, produced several differences such as larger particles sizes and narrower molecular weight distributions. Focusing on the PSA films that exhibited adhesive rather than cohesive failure, the PSA films generated via miniemulsion polymerization displayed higher values of loop tack and peel strength compared to those produced via conventional emulsion polymerization. Shear strength results were strongly dependent on the amount of gel content and sol molecular weight for both cases.

Summary: This paper presents the results of the preparation of miniemulsions as well as the subsequent copolymerizations of 2‐ethyl hexyl acrylate and vinyl acetate. The miniemulsions were prepared using a mixture of an anionic and a non‐ionic surfactant. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was used as the anionic surfactant and two non‐ionic surfactants were studied: Triton X‐405 and Disponil A3065. The miniemulsions prepared with a 90/10 mol.‐% Disponil A3065 were able to reach a kinetically‐stable state to yield latexes with 43 wt.‐% solids content with a maximum change in the number of particles (Np) with respect to the number of droplets (Nd) of ∼6%. A 23 factorial design was then used to discern the influence of monomer, chain transfer agent and surfactant concentration on the droplet size distribution (DSD) and particle size distribution (PSD). Pressure‐sensitive adhesive (PSA) properties were also examined.

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