Di(vinyl 2-hydroxy propanoate)ether of bisphenol-A (DEBA) was prepared by reacting diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBPA) with acrylic acid using triphenyl phosphine as catalyst. Divinylester monomer was copolymerised with four different monomers, viz. methyl methacrylate (MMA), n-butyl acrylate (BA), vinyl acetate (VAc) and acrylic acid (AA), using benzoin as photoinitiator. The kinetics of radical initiated photocopolymerisation were studied by differential photocalorimeter (DPC). The thermogram data obtained from DPC were used to calculate kinetic parameters, order of the reaction (n), independent order to encompass autocatalytic reaction (m) and the apparent rate constant (k) for the copolymerisation at different temperatures for each monomer. A change in the kinetic model from autocatalytic to Nth order was observed with increase in the fraction of conversion. A comparison of rate of conversion for copolymerisation with different monomers reveals that acrylic acid has a tendency to undergo faster copolymerisation whereas methyl methacrylate has relatively less tendency to copolymerise with DEBA.
