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Film formation from polystyrene–poly(butyl acrylate‐ co ‐methyl methacrylate) latex blends
Author(s) -
Uğur Şaziye,
Elaissari Abdelhamid,
Holl Yves
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
polymer composites
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1548-0569
pISSN - 0272-8397
DOI - 10.1002/pc.20203
Subject(s) - materials science , polystyrene , copolymer , glass transition , acrylate , annealing (glass) , methyl methacrylate , polymer chemistry , methacrylate , chemical engineering , butyl acrylate , polymer , composite material , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
We have employed steady sate fluorescence (SSF) and UV‐visible (UVV) techniques to determine the film formation behavior of latex blends. Blend films were prepared from mixtures of a high‐ T g pyrene (P) labeled polystyrene (PS) latex and a low‐ T g copolymer of poly(butyl acrylate‐ co ‐methyl methacrylate) (BuA/MMA4). Eleven different blend films were prepared in various hard/soft latex compositions at room temperature and annealed at elevated temperatures above glass‐transition ( T g ) temperature of polystyerene for 10 min. Fluorescence intensity ( I P ) from P was measured after each annealing step to monitor the stages of film formation. The evolution of transparency of latex films was monitored using photon transmission intensity, I tr . Film morphologies were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A significant change occurs in both I P and I tr intensities at a certain critical weight fraction of hard latex ( R c = 0.3). Above R c , two distinct film formation stages, which are named as void closure and interdiffusion processes, were seen in fluorescence data. Transparency of the films was decreased with decreasing PS content, indicating that a phase separation process occurs between PS and BuA/MMA4 phases by thermal treatment, which results in turbid films. However, below R c , no change was observed in I P and I tr upon annealing, whereas transparency increased overall with increasing BuA/MMA4 ratio. We explained this result as the phase separation process between PS and BuA/MMA4 blends. These results were also confirmed by AFM pictures. Film formation stages above R c were modeled and related activation energies were calculated. POLYM. COMPOS., 27:431–442, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers