Bimodal high solids content latices using RAFT-mediated polymerization-induced selfassembly and semi-batch emulsion polymerization

Juliete Neves (1) , Paulo Assis (2) , Fabricio Machado (1) , Franck D'Agosto (2) , Muriel Lansalot (2) , Timothy Mckenna (2)

1 UnB - Universidade de Brasilia [Brasília]
2 CP2M - Catalyse, Polymérisation, Procédés et Matériaux

This work focuses on increasing the solids content of water-based coating materials such as paints, other coatings or adhesives while attempting to reduce the amount of surfactant in the final latex. The synthesis of a latex with a bimodal particle size distribution was carried out by combining RAFT and classical emulsion polymerization processes. By employing the RAFT polymerization, the population of small particles was created by self-ordering the block copolymer chains, consisting of a hydrophilic block based on methacrylic acid or sodium 4-styrenesulfonate and another hydrophobic block based on styrene. The final latex was made by adding a preemulsion prepared from the latex of small particles and a mixture of monomers and surfactants to the latex of large particles made via conventional emulsion polymerization. The final bimodal latex thus obtained had a solids content of 65% mass with a viscosity value of around 2.0 Pa.s at a shear rate of 20 s-1.

Keywords: high solids content; bimodal distribution; RAFT; emulsion polymerization; viscosity

Domains: Polymers

Juliete Neves, Paulo Assis, Fabricio Machado, Franck D'Agosto, Muriel Lansalot, et al.. Bimodal high solids content latices using RAFT-mediated polymerization-induced selfassembly and semi-batch emulsion polymerization. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, inPress, ⟨10.1002/app.53867⟩. ⟨hal-04040016⟩