Preparation of Acrylic Microgels by Modified Microemulsion Polymerization and Phase Inversion

Abstract

Semi‐transparent reactive microgel in nanosize has been prepared by modified microemulsion polymerization using a common emulsifier, crosslinking agent and functional monomer. The microgels are translucent reactive nanoparticles, with the size of 40–100 nm, consisting of inner‐crosslinked polymer up to 40%. FT‐IR proved the functional groups, such as epoxy and hydroxy, are on the surface of the microgel nanoparticles. Rheological detection demonstrated the apparent pseudoplasticity of the non‐aqueous microgel dispersion prepared by the phase transfering from the O/W microlatexes.