ABSTRACT
Polymerization of vinyl monomers is of enormous industrial importance. These vinyl polymers are mostly thermoplastics and they are used in a wide variety of end-use applications. Many vinyl monomers are polymerized by free-radical, ionic, and coordination polymerization mechanisms. Among these, free-radical polymerization is the most widely used in industrial production of vinyl polymers. Ionic polymerization is generally used to manufacture specialty polymers. Free-radical polymerization is advantageous over other processes in that it is less sensitive to impurities in the raw materials, and the rate of polymerization as well as polymer properties can be controlled by the choice of initiator and polymerization conditions.
