Kim CU

Vol. 11,  No. 1, pp. 41-50, Mar.  2005

Acrylic emulsion Emulsion polymerization Nonionic surfactant Methyl methacrylate n-Butyl acrylate

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In this study, semibatch emulsion copolymerization of n-BA as adhesive component and MMA as coagulant component were carried out for the stable acrylic polymer latex in aqueous phase for polymer cement using LE-type nonionic surfactant as environmental friendly surfactant. The stable polymer emulsion was obtained with the increases of chain length(n) of this surfactant. The effect on the amount of LE-50 as nonionic surfactant were showed that the concentration of polymer latex were increased by increasing the amount of LE-50, whereas the average particle size were decreased by increasing the amount. The addition of functional monomer in initial reactor charge showed a significant effect on the final polymer concentration and the latex particle size. The single polymerization of each n-BA or MMA showed a very low concentration of polymer latex and very big particle size due to coagulation. In the polymerization composed of mixed monomer with MMA and n-BA, the larger the ratio of MMA to n-BA in the copolymers, the greater the amount of coagulum produced. It was found that a stable copolymers were obtained in the range of 15-35 % of n-BA. Moreover, incorporation of some functional monomers in addition to of main monomers became more stable polymer latex. Through DSC and IR analysis, the final polymer latex was composed by MMA/n-BA/AA/AM with a single Tg depending on the reaction conditions. As a result, the conditions of this acrylic polymerization could also be effectively controlled to get the desired final products.