Production
Different manufacturing processes are used to produce the homopolymer and copolymer versions of POM. Homopolymer. To make polyoxymethylene homopolymer, anhydrous formaldehyde must be generated. The principal method is by reaction of the aqueous formaldehyde with an alcohol to create a hemiformal, dehydration of the hemiformal/water mixture (either by extraction or vacuum distillation) and release of the formaldehyde by heating the hemiformal. The formaldehyde is then polymerized by anionic catalysis and the resulting polymer stabilized by reaction with acetic anhydride. A typical example is DuPont’s Delrin.