Investigation of Acrylic Acid at High Pressure Using Neutron Diffraction

This
article details the exploration of perdeuterated acrylic acid
at high pressure using neutron diffraction. The structural changes
that occur in acrylic acid-d4 are followed
via diffraction and rationalized using the Pixel method. Acrylic acid
undergoes a reconstructive phase transition to a new phase at ∼0.8
GPa and remains molecular to 7.2 GPa before polymerizing on decompression
to ambient pressure. The resulting product is analyzed via Raman and
FT-IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry and found
to possess a different molecular structure compared with polymers
produced via traditional routes.