Particle nucleation in emulsion polymerization. III. Nucleation in systems with anionic emulsifier investigated by seeded and unseeded polymerization

Abstract

AbstractStudies of seeded and unseeded polymerization of styrene using sodium dodecylsulfate as emulsifier have been carried out in order to investigate the mechanism of particle nucleation in such systems and to test the theory presented in Part I of this series. The rate of capture of water‐soluble oligomeric radicals was considered to be governed by absorption of oligomers with chain length one less than the critical chain length. It was concluded that the micelles became the dominating loci for particle nucleation above CMC for the emulsifier. A complete nonsteady‐state model for particle initiation above CMC which takes into account radical desorption and reabsorption has been developed. It was indicated that, even for styrene, desorption of radicals may play a role in controlling the radical and particle number of interval I under certain conditions. The model also showed that the efficiencies of particles in absorbing radicals could be calculated from physical parameters, such as diffusion constants and surface charge densities, which are available for the system.