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Semicontinuous heterophase copolymerization of vinyl acetate and butyl acrylate
Author(s) -
OvandoMedina Víctor M.,
DíazFlores Paola E.,
Peralta René D.,
Mendizábal Eduardo,
CortezMazatan Gladis Y.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.37943
Subject(s) - copolymer , polymer chemistry , monomer , vinyl acetate , microemulsion , materials science , polymerization , sodium dodecyl sulfate , acrylate , butyl acrylate , emulsion polymerization , particle size , polymer , ethylene oxide , pulmonary surfactant , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering
Vinyl acetate (VAc) and butyl acrylate (BuA) were copolymerized in heterophase by a semicontinuous process (unseeded) and compared with the seeded semicontinuous microemulsion polymerization of the same monomers. A mixture of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and poly(ethylene oxide) dodecyl ether (Brij‐35®) were used as surfactants. The effects of monomer addition rate ( R a ) and surfactants concentrations (4 or 1 wt % with respect to the initial mixture of reaction) on polymer and latex properties were studied. High copolymer content latexes (24–36 wt %) with average particle diameters ( D p ) from 38 to 55 nm and relatively narrow particle size distributions, high polymerization rates, weight ratios of polymer to surfactant (P/S) from 13.3 to 32.8 were obtained. The number‐average molecular weights ( M n ) were between 96,000 and 188,000 g/mol. Homogeneous copolymer compositions were obtained throughout the reaction for both, seeded and unseeded processes, which is not possible by the usual batch microemulsion process. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013