CDB 4423: Polymer Process Engineering

Tutorial 1

1. What would be the mole percent of ethylene and vinyl chloride in a random
copolymer that contains 50 wt% of each component?

2. Calculate the degree of polymerization for a polyacetal molecule with a

molecular weight of 25,000 Da.

3. What is the average molecular weight of polypropylene with a degree of

polymerization of 500?

4. A blend of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride contains 10 mol % polyvinyl

chloride. What is the weight percentage polyvinyl chloride?

5. A simplified mer formula for natural rubber (isoprene) is C5H8. Calculate the
molecular weight for a molecule of isoprene with a degree of polymerization of
500.

6. Determine the mole fraction of polyvinyl chloride and polyvinyl acetate in a

copolymer having a molecular weight of 9000g/mol and a degree of
polymerization of 125.

7. How much sulfur must be added to 100g of butadiene rubber to crosslink 3% of

the mers. Assume all sulfur is used to crosslink the mer and that only one sulfur
atom is involved in each crosslinking bond.

i. ---[CH2-CH=CH-CH2-]—

8. What are TWO methods by which a linear chain polymerization reaction can be
terminated in the following systems?
a. Solution/slurry phase polymerization using peroxide initiator.
b. gas phase polymerization, using catalyst.

9. How do side branches on polyethylene main chains affect the packing of the
molecular chains in a solid polymer?

10. How does branching of the polymer chains affect the tensile strength of solid
bulk polyethylene?

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 11. Distinguish between a homopolymer and a copolymer

12. What is the number and weight (Mn and Mw) average molecular weight of a
polymer sample in which the polymer molecules can be divided into 5 groups
with the following molecular weights (in g/mole):

Group 1 50,000

Group 2 100,000

Group 3 200,000

Group 4 500,000

Group 5 700,00

The ratios of the number of molecules in each group are 1:4:5:3:1

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