TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON THE KINETICS OF THE POLYSTYRENE AGGREGATION PROGRESS BY USING STATIC AND DYNAMIC LIGHT SCATTERINGS

Using static and dynamic light scatterings, the kinetics of the aggreg ation process for a water solution of polystyrene latex particles indu ced in a low-salt concentration (0.3 mol/liter) are investigated for f ive different temperatures. Our results show that aggregation of clust ers can take place either slowly or rapidly, depending on the sample t emperature. For 20 degrees C, the slow process produces clusters, whic h agrees with reaction-limited cluster aggregation, except for having two different growth rates in terms of the change of the aggregation t ime. For temperatures higher than 25 degrees C, the rapid process yiel ds clusters, which is similar to diffusion-limited duster-cluster aggr egation. It is also shown that the fractal dimension decreases as the temperature increases.