Parametric Optimization of the Poly (Nvinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) Thermoresponsive Polymers Synthesis by the Response Surface Methodology and Radial Basis Function neural network

Abstract

A novel comparison study based on a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is proposed to predict the conversion rate (yield) of the experimental data for PNVCL polymerization. A statistical and optimization model was performing to show the effect of each parameter and their interactions on the conversion rate. The influence of the time, polymerization temperature, initiator concentration and concentration of the monomer were studied. The results obtained in this study indicate that the RBFNN was an effective method for predicting the conversion rate. The time of the PNVCL polymerization as well as the concentration of the monomer show the maximum effect on the conversion rate. In addition, compared with the RSM method, the RBFNN showed better conversion rate comparing with the experimental data.