Kinetic studies on the peroxide initiated polypropylene controlled degradation

The question of how the initial segregation of reactants of the process of the peroxide promoted PP degradation affects the overall rate of the degradation is examined. The important conclusions we have reached so far are: (a) The overall PP degradation reaction, even for initially only microsegregated reactions, i.e., almost of uniform concentration, is significantly lower than the decomposition of the peroxide - contrary to the commonly held opinion. (b) The efficiency of utilization of the peroxide in initially macrosegregated reactants is significantly reduced at moderate and high peroxide concentrations and at high process temperatures which favor decomposition of the unmixed peroxide, before mixing of the reactants.