KINETIC-STUDY ON THE POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE) SEEDED SOAPLESS EMULSION POLYMERIZATION OF STYRENE .3. SEEDS WITH CROSS-LINKING

In this work, a seeded soapless emulsion polymerization was carried ou t with crosslinking (XL) poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as seeds, st yrene as monomer, and potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) as initiator to sy nthesize the PMMA XL-PS composite latex, which we knew as the latex in terpenetrating polymer network (IPN). The morphology of the latex IPN was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It showed a co re-shell structure. The kinetic data from the early stages of the reac tion of seeded soapless emulsion polymerization showed that the square root of polymer yield (W-p)(1/2) was proportional to the reaction tim e. The reaction rate decreased with the increase of crosslinking densi ty of PMMA seeds. The core-shell model proposed in our previous work(1 -2) was modified to predict the conversion of polymerization over the entire course of the synthesis of PMMA(XL)-PS composite latex. Our mod ified core-shell kinetic model fitted well with the experimental data. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.