Abstract
Our aim was to study the effect of various surfactants on the adhesion properties of latex films. For this purpose, a model monodisperse, surfactant-free, core-shell latex was synthesized. The core was a random copolymer of styrene and butyl acrylate. The shell consisted of a styrene/butyl acrylate/methacrylic acid terpolymer with 10 wt% of methacrylic acid. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and various ethoxylated nonionic surfactants were post-added to the latex at increasing concentrations. The adhesion of the corresponding films was measured by peeling at 180°. The shapes of the curves relating the peel energy to the surfactant concentration were similar, irrespective of the nature of the surfactant, namely a decrease to a constant plateau level. This means that in these systems, the influence of a weak boundary layer at the interface dominates all other possible effects of the surfactant. This was confirmed by surface analysis and peel experiments with surfactant-free films contacted with spin-coated SDS layers of increasing thickness. The reasons why the deleterious interfacial effect of the surfactant overwhelms all others are discussed.
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