Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, Vol.42, No.2, 71-77, 2009
Effect of Shear Rate and Volume Fraction on Agglomerative Nature of Polymer Latex
A model For predicting the latex agglomerate size during the coagulation process, when (lie growth and breakup of the latex agglomerates proceed simultaneously tit a turbulent now, is proposed in this paper. In this model, the size of the agglomerate was expressed as it function of the external shear force, the strength of the agglomerate, and file volatile fraction of the slurry. The strength of the latex agglomerate was determined by a measurement or the slurry rheology in accordance with Usai's approach, where an inter-particle flooding energy between primary particles was calculated front the viscosity data. With this model, it was possible to predict the absolute size of the cluster in file turbulent flow. To confirm the validity of this model, the latex was agglomerated in various agitation conditions in the stirring vessel, while file dependence on volume fraction was also examined. The relation between file experimentally determined latex agglomerate sizes and the calculated agglomerate sizes from file proposed model was evaluated.