Thermal decomposition of the copolymer of butyl methacylate(BMA) with styrene(St) was investigated. The copolymer Was obtained at 80 ℃ in a continuous stirred tank reactor(CSTR) using toluene and benzoyl peroxide(BPO), as solvent and initiator, respectively. The reactor volume was 0.3 liters and residence time was 3 hours. The thermal decomposition followed the second order kinetics for BMA/St copolymer. The activation energies of thermal decompositon were in the ranges of 38 ~43 kcal/mol for BMA with St copolymer and a good additivity rule was observed with the composition of copolymer. The thermogravimetric trace curve agreed well with the theoretical calculation.

Copolymerization of α-Methylstyrene(AMS) with Acrylonitrile(AN) was carried out with benzoylperoxide(BPO) as an initiator in toluene at 80℃ in a continuous stirred tank reactor. Reaction volume and residence time were 0.6 liters and 3 hours, respectively. The monomer reactivity ratios, rAMS and rAN determined by both the Kelen-Tüdös method and the Fineman-Ross method were rAMS=0.16(0.14), rAN=0.04(0.06). The cross-termination factor Φ of the copolymer over the entire AMS composition ranged from 0.75 to 0.92. The Φ factors of poly(AMS-co-AN) were increased with increasing AMS content. The simulated conversions and copolymerization rates were compared with the experimental results. It was observed that the average time to reach dynamic steady-state was three times the residence time.