Synthesis, modification, and characterization of organosilicone and acrylate copolymer latex

Abstract

Abstract Silicone elastomers are well known for their interesting physical and chemical properties such as low surface tension and surface energy, high energy of Si–O bond, good molecule flexibility, increased modulus, decreased thermal expansion coefficient, increased heat distortion temperature, reduced gas permeability, better fire-retardant properties, enhanced ionic conductivity, low flammability, increased solvent resistance, lower material cost, and ease of preparation and processing. High-silicon-content silicone-acrylate copolymerization emulsion by octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and acrylic ester was synthesized and characterized in this article. About 20 wt% silicon content gave the latex film a rubberlike characteristic as shown by the study of the resilience and tensile curve of the silicone-acrylic latex film. The emulsions were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A Mastersizer 2000 particle size distributor from Malvern Instruments was used to measure the particle size distribution of the organosilicone-acrylate copolymer emulsion. In this article, the thermal properties of the copolymers were studied using thermogravimetric analysis. The morphology structure of the latex film was determined by transmission electron microscopy. The analysis results indicated that the latex film presented high drawing rate and high elasticity. Compared with common polymer fluid, the latex displayed a sound performance in flowability, elastic resilience, and industry application value.