Abstract
Abstract Due to an increasing awareness of environmental protection, waterborne coatings have replaced solvent-borne ones. The waterborne styrene-acrylate dispersion was successfully synthesized using emulsion polymerization. In this work, the emulsion was composed of Butyl Acrylate (BA) and Styrene (Sty) at different ratios. FTIR spectra confirmed the successful copolymerization of BA and Sty. Additionally, it was observed that all emulsions exhibited a consistent hydrodynamic diameter (120 nm to 140 nm), polydispersity index (between 0.030 and 0.050), and zeta potential (-40 mV to -60 mV). Thus, the BA/St ratio did not impact particle growth during emulsion polymerization. Furthermore, an increase in Sty concentration raised the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the films from 10.8 °C to 30.8 °C. This is attributed to Sty being a high Tg polymer, contributing to a rigid monomer that could enhance rigidity and restrict the movement of polymer chains. Additionally, the tensile strength of the dispersion films increased with the increase in Sty concentration, from 3.01 MPa to 5.88 MPa. Interestingly, the elongation at break did not significantly change as the St concentration increased, dropping by 15%. The investigation to aid in establishing relationships between the monomer concentration and mechanical properties of styrene-acrylate films.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call