SOME THEORETICAL ASPECTS ON MORPHOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN SEEDED COMPOSITE LATEXES .1. BATCH CONDITIONS BELOW MONOMER SATURATION

In seeded emulsion polymerization, during the second stage, new interf aces appear and the surface area changes. A thermodynamic equilibrium approach is presented which predicts particle morphology of a whole ra nge of non-spherical particles upon polymer conversion. Simulation tak es into account swelling ratio, molar volumes and interfacial tension. As the particle geometry is complex, a new mathematical procedure is detailed. The computed data are useful to discuss either the stability or the instability of the particles morphology. These results must be compared with actual experimental structures.