Advantages of Emulsion Polymers

Flexibility is the key word in emulsion polymerisation. Latex properties can be tailored to the application (65,384). Various types of monomers, processing methods, and additives can be used during emulsion polymerisation, making the process flexible (276). A wide variety of products with specialised properties can be manufactured. Emulsion polymerisation allows for the production of particles with specially-tailored properties, including size, composition, morphology, and molecular weight. Functional groups can also be incorporated (160). Blends of different types of latexes have been formulated to provide the desired properties without copolymerisation (139,156, 213, 386). 

Solvent-based latexes do exist, but have limited applications. Inverse emulsions (Section 3.4) require the use of organic solvents as the continuous phase. Latex particles have also been redispersed into organic solvents (as in the PVC plastisols mentioned in Section 6). However, the use of organic solvents in latexes is discouraged for environmental reasons. In fact, the desire to discontinue the use of solvent-based polymer solutions has been a major driving force for the development of water-based latexes. 

Emulsion polymerisation was first developed in industrial laboratories in the late 1920s for the 

---