Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.69, No.1, 13-23, 1998
Morphology, thermal property, and mechanical property of core-shell latex polymers. I. Effect of heating and pressuring on PBA/PS linear composite polymer
In this work, butyl acrylate and styrene were used as monomers in the first stage and second stage of polymerization, respectively, and potassium persulfate (K2S2O8) was used as the initiator to synthesize the poly(butyl acrylate)-polystyrene (PBA/PS) composite latex by the method of two-stage soapless emulsion polymerization. The morphology of the latex particles was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which showed that the composite latex particles had a core-shell structure. The particle-size distribution of the composite latex was very uniform. A thin layer of a PBA-graft-PS copolymer was formed in between the core (PBA) and shell (PS) regions, which thus increased the compatibility between the PBA and PS phases. The process of heating and pressuring influenced the morphology, mechanical properties, and thermal properties of the PBA/PS composite polymer.