Polymers from vinyl fluoride†
This paper was presented at the Symposium on New Products and Applications for Fluorine-Containing Materials before the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry at the 136th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Atlantic City, September, 1959. Contribution No. 546 from the Central Research Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware.
Abstract
The free-radical polymerization of vinyl fluoride has been studied with the use of organic peroxide and azo initiators over the temperature range of 60–150°C. and at pressures of 75–1000 atm. Molecular weights of the polymers by osmotic pressure or radiotracer techniques were found to vary over the range of 45,000 to 180,000 depending on polymerization conditions employed. Stabilized high molecular weight polyvinyl fluoride may be compression-molded into tough, high-impact strength bars, or the unstabilized material may be cast into films from solvents such as dimethylformamide. The films, which may be cold drawn, are tough, brilliantly clear, and have tensile strengths near 8000 lb./in.2 They are also extremely resistant to weathering, maintaining clarity and cold drawability even after ten years' exposure in Florida.
