AN ADVANCED COMPUTER ALGORITHM FOR DETERMINING MORPHOLOGY DEVELOPMENTIN LATEX-PARTICLES

A new algorithm is presented for the prediction of equilibrium morphol ogy in latex particles. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations of the interfacial free energies associated with a large array of possible mo rphologies serve to create a continuous free-energy surface upon which the preferred morphology is located. When the computations are perfor med on a 486DX33 PC, the calculations are essentially instantaneous. T he graphical output can be refreshed on the monitor screen in less tha n 2 s. The algorithm is applied to simulate the conversion-dependent m orphology for several latex systems composed of polystyrene and poly(m ethyl methacrylate) and two very different surfactants. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.