Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1993, 58, 2451-2457
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc19932451

Effect of Coagulative Mechanism of Particle Growth on the Structural Heterogeneity of Ethyl Acrylate-Methacrylic Acid Copolymer Latex Particles

Jaromír Šňupáreka, Pavel Bradnab, Libuše Mrkvičkováb, František Lednickýb and Otakar Quadratb

a Department of Polymers, University of Chemical Technology, 532 10 Pardubice, Czech Republic
b Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic

Abstract

Latex particles of ethyl acrylate-methacrylic acid copolymers prepared by semicontinuous emulsion polymerization with a monomer emulsion feed were found to disintegrate into smaller subparticles on alkalization. The phenomenon observed by light scattering and scanning electron microscopy is explained in terms of heterogeneous structure of latex particles which are agglomerates of small particles formed by coagulation during polymerization. The influence of particle size and polymerization route on particle heterogenity is discussed.