Swelling of poly(styrene-co-methacrylic acid) latex by isoprene

Abstract

Carboxylated polystyrene latex was used as seed and isoprene as the second-stage monomer in an inhibited, seeded emulsion polymerization recipe for studies of monomer swelling kinetics at 80°C during interval III of an emulsion polymerization. The isoprene was added to the reactor in small portions using a syringe, and changes in the reactor pressure were continuously measured. Isoprene was added until a free liquid monomer phase was formed; that was, interval II was reached, as indicated by no further pressure increase upon the addition of more monomer. When the observed pressure increment, Opi, per unit isoprene added was plotted as a function of the volume fraction of polymer in the latex particles, vp, the graph could be divided into 3 domains. The break points in the Opi curve could, in an analogous emulsion polymerization, be identified as the glass transition temperature for the polymer, the so-called gel point in interval III and the onset of interval III. In the second domain, where the vp was between the glass transition temperature, Tg, for the seed polymer and the gel point, the value of Opi decreased significantly with increasing monomer concentration in the latex particles. This was due to the entropy of mixing and the monomer acting as a plasticizer in the seed polymer. The rate of sorption of monomer to the latex particles was low at high values of vp. It then increased rapidly with increasing monomer concentrations in the latex particles, [M]p, and a maximum was observed in domain 2. At lower values of vp the sorption rate decreased in domain 3 and finally became zero as the free liquid monomer phase started to form. Results from batch polymerization suggested that the rate of diffusion of adsorbed monomer and oligo radicals into the particles was retarded. A simplified form of the Vanzo equation was used to estimate the monomer partitioning. It predicted too high a value of [M]p, especially in domain 2 of the swelling process. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 70: 2041–2051, 1998