Studies on suspension and emulsion. XXXV. Effect of epoxy groups at the surface layer of ethyl acrylate–glycidyl methacrylate copolymer emulsion particles on its crosslinking reactivity

Abstract

AbstractThe effect of epoxy groups at the surface layer of ethyl acrylate–glycidyl methacrylate copolymer (1) emulsion particles on its crosslinking reactivity has been investigated. For this purpose two series of I emulsions were prepared. In the Y series, of which emulsion particles have epoxy groups at the surface layer, the epoxy content in the polymerization recipe was varied. For preparing the X series, of which emulsion particles have few epoxy groups at the surface layer, the high epoxy content of a given emulsion was reduced by various degrees of cleavage reaction with HCl–CaCl2. In emulsion blend films with amine‐group‐containing copolymer (II) emulsion, where the crosslinking reaction was expected to proceed only at the interfacial layer of I and II emulsion particles, the Y series, compared to the X series at the equal overall epoxy content in particles, showed less swelling and higher gel fraction in dioxane, less swelling in water, and higher tensile strength and modulus. On the other hand, this difference was not observed in the next two crosslinked films in which crosslinking was expected to be homogeneous. First, blends of I and II, which were isolated from the corresponding emulsions discussed above, were cast from dioxane solutions. Second, I emulsions were cast with BF3 ether complex which was expected to penetrate into the particles. It is concluded that the response of I emulsion cleaving the epoxy groups at the surface layer of particles to subsequent interfacial crosslinking is obviously reduced. However, even such an emulsion can be crosslinked to an extent similar to that of an uncleaved emulsion with similar overall epoxy content, if the crosslinking reaction is conducted so as to give an homogeneous effect.