Studies of alkali soluble resin as a surfactant in emulsion polymerization

In this work, alkali soluble resin (ASR) was evaluated as a surfactant in e mulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), styrene (SM), and buty lacrylate (BA). A decrease in reaction rate was observed with ASR as the su rfactant in the MMA system but not in the SM system. Kinetic analysis indic ated that ASR retards the reaction rate and reduces the average number of r adicals per latex particle in the MMA system. Experimental results also sho wed that the reaction rate of BA was slow and that the BA latex was unstabl e with ASR as the surfactant. A grafting reaction was observed in the prese nce of ASR via gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurements. The transm ission electron micrograph was employed to observe the morphology of latex as well. It depicted that the particles were surrounded by ASR to stabilize the latex particle. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.