Water-Resistance Material from Fibers and Acrylic Emulsion Terpolymer

Abstract

Styrene (SM), methyl methacrylate (MMA), and butyl acrylate (BA) were used to synthesize a polyacrylic emulsion by core-shell emulsion polymerization. The solid content of the emulsion reached 40% using reasonable reactive emulsifier contents and feeding modes. Then, two kinds of fibers (recovered and hardwood fiber) were respectively dispersed, coated, and dried with emulsion. Finally, fiber-based water-resistant material was successfully fabricated. The experimental results showed that under the conditions of a mass ratio of polyacrylic emulsion to fiber of 2:1, the Cobb value of the material reached 7.1 g/m2 and 10.8 g/m2 respectively. Cobb value of recovered fiber material was more stable than hardwood fiber, and stayed in a lower variation scope on the whole. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the surface morphology of products. The SEM results proved that, the polyacrylic emulsion filled the gaps between fibers, decreased the porous structure. This filling effect led to a continuous structure, and kept the water from infiltrating inside of the material. On the other hand, for the short fiber in recovered fiber material arranged closer, the water resistance of the material was further enhanced.