Kinetic study on the poly(methyl methacrylate) seeded soapless emulsion polymerization of styrene. I. Experimental investigation

Abstract

AbstractIn this work, methyl methacrylate (MMA) and styrene (ST) were used as monomers in the first stage and second stage of polymerization, respectively, and potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) was used as the initiator to synthesize the poly(methyl methacrylate)‐polystyrene (PMMA/PS) composite latex by the method of two‐stage soapless emulsion polymerization, i.e., PMMA seeded soapless emulsion polymerization of styrene.The morphology of the latex particles was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It showed that the composite latex particles had a core–shell structure. The particlesize distribution of the composite latex was very uniform.The kinetic data of seeded soapless emulsion polymerization showed that the square root of polymer yield (Wp)1/2 was proportional to the reaction time in the earlier period of the reaction. The slope of the line of (Wp)1/2 vs. reaction time was independent of the content of the seed, but proportional to 0.5 power of the initiator concentration. The gel effect was apparent after monomer droplets disappeared. A glassy effect was found in the latter period of the reaction. The number‐average molecular weight of the polymers increased but the weight‐average molecular weight of the polymers decreased with decrease of the MMA/ST weight ratio. The number‐ and weight‐average molecular weight increased with decreasing the temperature significantly. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.