Influence of the polymeric hydrophobe on the kinetics of vinyl acetate miniemulsion polymerization

The influence of polymeric hydrophobes on the stabilization and kinetics of the vinyl acetate miniemulsion polymerization was investigated by conducti ng reactions in batch mode of miniemulsions prepared with poly(vinyl acetat e) or polystyrene as cosurfactants. The results were compared with a miniem ulsion stabilized with hexadecane and with the conventional emulsion. The s helf life stability analysis showed that miniemulsions prepared with polyme r as the unique cosurfactant were not stable. However, the appearance of th e separated phases was not similar to the conventional emulsion, which was interpreted as the formation of small monomer swollen particles in the case of the miniemulsion. The kinetic analysis confirmed the different nucleati on mechanism of these unstable miniemulsions compared with the conventional emulsion. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.