Water‐soluble polymers as retention aids in a model papermaking system. IV. Some block and graft copolymers

Abstract

AbstractIn an attempt to relate the retention behavior of water‐soluble polymers in paper formation from cellulose fibers and titanium dioxide, several copolymer types were synthesized. These were acrylamide–acrylonitrile random copolymers; block copolymers of acrylamide, acrylonitrile, and 2‐vinylpyridine with poly(ethylene oxide); and acrylamide graft copolymers of ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose. Good retention and heteroflocculation behavior is shown only by the first of the above types of copolymers. Generally speaking, block copolymeric structures synthesized were of molecular size too small to act as good retention aids, although in a number of cases their performance was noticeably superior to that of the homopolymer analog. Adsorption isotherms are also reported and the overall results discussed in terms of a polymer bridging mechanism of heteroflocculation.