Stabilization of polymer dispersions by using ionic monomers

Abstract

Surfactants are the necessary evil in the commercial production of waterborne dispersions to stabilize the polymer particles. However, they are deleterious for application properties as their migration reduces gloss, adhesion and water resistance of the films cast from these dispersions. Attempts to substitute traditional surfactants by non-migratory counterparts (e.g. surfmers) have not been completely successful.This PhD thesis aims at producing colloidal stable, high solids content and film forming emulsifier-free latexes, in which the colloidal stability is solely provided by chemically incorporated and pH insensitive ionic moieties onto the polymer particles. As major comonomers, a typical coating formulation MMA/BA (50/50 by weight) and the pH and temperature insensitive sodium styrene sulfonate (NaSS) was selected as ionic monomer. The necessary condition for the success of the approach is to achieve the chemical incorporation of the ionic monomer onto the polymer particles minimizing the amount of water soluble polymer