Polymerization continued latex particle

Emulsion copolymerizations can be carried out using batch, semi-continuous, or continuous processes. The copolymers made by these processes differ according to the process used, the copoly-meriztion reactivity ratios of the monomers, and the monomer solubilities in the aqueous phase. To show the difference between batch and semi-continuous polymerization, the latex particle size, surface characteristics, latex stability, copolymer properties, and latex film morphology were investigated for the vinyl acetate-butyl acrylate system (37). The water solubilities are 290 mM and llmM for vinyl acetate and butyl acrylate, respectively, and the copoly-merization reactivity ratios of = 0-0.04 and r 2 show... 

Medvedev et al. [57] extensively studied the use of nonionic emulsifiers in emulsion polymerization. The emulsion polymerizations in the presence of nonionic emulsifiers exhibited some differences relative to those carried out with the ionic ones. Medvedev et al, [57] proposed that the size of latex particles remained constant during the reaction period, but their number increased continually with the increasing monomer conversion. The use of nonionic emulsifiers in emulsion polymerization usually results in larger sizes relative to those obtained by the ionic emulsifiers. It is possible to reach a final size value of 250 nm by the use of nonionic emulsifiers in the emulsion polymerization of styrene [58]. 

Figure 9 The schematical representation of dispersion polymerization process, (a) initially homogeneous dispersion medium (b) particle formation and stabilizer adsorption onto the nucleated macroradicals (c) capturing of radicals generated in the continuous medium by the forming particles and monomer diffusion to the forming particles (d) polymerization within the monomer swollen latex particles, (e) latex particle stabilized by steric stabilizer and graft copolymer molecules (f) list of symbols.

This paper presents the physical mechanism and the structure of a comprehensive dynamic Emulsion Polymerization Model (EPM). EPM combines the theory of coagulative nucleation of homogeneously nucleated precursors with detailed species material and energy balances to calculate the time evolution of the concentration, size, and colloidal characteristics of latex particles, the monomer conversions, the copolymer composition, and molecular weight in an emulsion system. The capabilities of EPM are demonstrated by comparisons of its predictions with experimental data from the literature covering styrene and styrene/methyl methacrylate polymerizations. EPM can successfully simulate continuous and batch reactors over a wide range of initiator and added surfactant concentrations. 

According to the first method, each micelle in an emulsion behaves like a separate micro-continuous reactor which contains all the components, i.e. monomers and radicals from the aqueous phase. Thus, analogous to the latex particles in emulsion polymerization, microgels formed by emulsion polymerization are distributed in the whole available volume. 

Deionized water (720 g), sodium lauryl sulfate (4.3 g), dioctanoyl peroxide (40 g), and acetone (133 g) were emulsified using an ultrasonic probe for 10 minutes. The step 1 polystyrene seed (48.0 g seed, 578 g latex) was added to the emulsion together with lauryl sulfate (0.8 g) and acetone (29.6 g). The mixture was transferred to a flask and left to agitate at approximately 25°C for 48 hours. Acetone was then removed and the solution added to a 5-liter double-walled glass reactor. The temperature was increased to 40°C while styrene (336 g) and divinyl benzene (0.88 g) were added drop-wise over approximately 60 minutes. After 4 hours the mixture was treated with deionized water (1200 g), potassium iodide (1.28 g), and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (18.48 g) with the temperature increased to 70°C. The polymerization continued for 6 hours at 70°C and 1 hour at 90°C. Styrene-based oligomer particles with a diameter of 1.7 pm and with a narrow size distribution were obtained. 

In emulsion polymerization the compartmentalization of reaction loci and the location of monomer in polymer particles favor the growth and slow down termination events. The contribution of solution polymerization in the continuous phase is strongly restricted due to the location of monomer in the monomer droplets and/or polymer particles. This gives rise to greatly different characteristics of polymer formation in latex particles from those in bulk or solution polymerization. In emulsion polymerization, where polymer and monomer are mutually soluble, the polymerization locus is the whole particle. If the monomer and polymer are partly mutually soluble, the particle/water interfacial region is the polymerization locus. 

The results showed that all batch polymerizations gave a two-peaked copolymer compositional distribution, a butyl acrylate-rich fraction, which varied according to the monomer ratio, and polyvinyl acetate. All starved semi-continuous polymerizations gave a single-peaked copolymer compositional distribution which corresponded to the monomer ratio. The latex particle sizes and type and concentration of surface groups were correlated with the conditions of polymerization. The stability of the latex to added electrolyte showed that particles were stabilized by both electrostatic and steric stabilization with the steric stabilization groups provided by surface hydrolysis of vinyl acetate units in the polymer chain. The extent of this surface hydrolysis was greater for the starved semi-continuous sample than for the batch sample. 

In the methodology developed by us [24], the incompatibility of the two polymers was exploited in a positive way. The composites were obtained using a two-step method. In the first step, hydrophilic (hydrophobic) polymer latex particles were prepared using the concentrated emulsion method. The monomer-precursor of the continuous phase of the composite or water, when that monomer was hydrophilic, was selected as the continuous phase of the emulsion. In the second step, the emulsion whose dispersed phase was polymerized was dispersed in the continuous-phase monomer of the composite or its solution in water when the monomer was hydrophilic, after a suitable initiator was introduced in the continuous phase. The submicrometer size hydrophilic (hydrophobic) latexes were thus dispersed in the hydrophobic (hydrophilic) continuous phase without the addition of a dispersant. The experimental observations indicated that the above colloidal dispersions remained stable. The stability is due to both the dispersant introduced in the first step and the presence of the films of the continuous phase of the concentrated emulsion around the latex particles. These films consist of either the monomer-precursor of the continuous phase of the composite or water when the monomer-precursor is hydrophilic. This ensured the compatibility of the particles with the continuous phase. The preparation of poly(styrenesulfonic acid) salt latexes dispersed in cross-linked polystyrene matrices as well as of polystyrene latexes dispersed in crosslinked polyacrylamide matrices is described below. The two-step method is compared to the single-step ones based on concentrated emulsions or microemulsions. 

Candau and co-workers were the first to address the issue of particle nu-cleation for the polymerization of AM [13, 14] in an inverse microemulsion stabilized by AOT. They found that the particle size of the final microlatex (d 20-40 nm) was much larger than that of the initial monomer-swollen droplets (d 5-10 nm). Moreover, each latex particle formed contained only one polymer chain on average. It is believed that nucleation of the polymer particle occurs for only a small fraction of the final nucleated droplets. The non-nucleated droplets also serve as monomer for the growing particles either by diffusion through the continuous phase and/or by collisions between droplets. But the enormous number of non-nucleated droplets means that some of the primary free radicals continuously generated in the system will still be captured by non-nucleated droplets. This means that polymer particle nucleation is a continuous process [ 14]. Consequently, each latex particle receives only one free radical, resulting in the formation of only one polymer chain. This is in contrast to the large number of polymer chains formed in each latex particle in conventional emulsion polymerization, which needs a much smaller amount of surfactant compared to microemulsion polymerization. 

High polymer/surfactant weight ratios (up to about 15 1) of polystyrene microlatexes [73] have been produced in microemulsions stabihzed by polymerizable nonionic surfactant by the semi-continuous process. The copolymerization of styrene with the surfactant ensures the long-term stabihty of the latexes. Nanosized PS microlatexes with polymer content (<25 wt%) were also obtained from an emulsifier-free process [74] by the polymerization of styrene with ionic monomer (sodium styrenesulfonate, NaSS), nonionic comonomer (2-hydroxyethylmethacryalte, HEM A), or both. The surfaces of the latex particles were significantly enriched in NaSS and HEMA, providing better stabilization. 

In the polymerization study, however, polymer is being created continuously, the polymer particles coagulate euid if in the centrifugal field they will be ejected gradually from the polymerizing solution. This occurs as soon as the latex particles reach big enough dimensions to follow the forces in the centrifugal field. The latex particles move to the bottom of the cell. 

The submicroscopic emulsion polymerized form of IPN s would be expected to differ in mechanical properties from the counterpart bulk polymerized form in that (1) The latex particles are not crosslinked one to another allowing movement of one latex particle past another. (2) In bulk IPN s (10) it was shown that polymer I forms the continuous or more continuous phase while in latex IPN s polymer II tends to form the more continuous phase (1). 

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