PROCESS POLYMERS WITH SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS

Examples are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of SCFs (Supercritical Fluids) for purification and fractionation of multicomponent polymer mixtures. This makes possible production of high-purity materials with much more precisely controlled physical-chemical properties. SCFs offer considerable potential for other types of polymer processing. For example, R. C. Peterson et al. have described the use of rapid decompression of SCF polymer solutions for preparation of finely divided polymer powders. S. Kumar et al. have also reported the use of SCFs as precipitation polymerization media where the degree of polymerization can be controlled by varying the SCF density.