Issue 46, 2020

Poly(vinyl acetate-co-ethylene) particles prepared by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization in the presence of a hydrophilic RAFT/MADIX macromolecular chain transfer agent

Abstract

Poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (P(AAm-co-AA)-X) was prepared by RAFT/MADIX and used as a hydrophilic macromolecular chain transfer agent (macroCTA) in the aqueous emulsion copolymerization of vinyl acetate (VAc) and ethylene. Stable latexes were obtained over a broad range of conditions with macroCTA contents ranging from 1 to 65 wt% (compared to the initial amount of VAc) and ethylene pressure from 10 to 100 bar. The different systems investigated generated latexes incorporating amorphous to semi-crystalline poly(vinyl acetate-co-ethylene) (P(VAc-co-E)) chains using macroCTA content as low as 1 wt% in the absence of additional surfactant. The particle nucleation mechanism was investigated with the help of kinetic studies using cryogenic transmission electronic microscopy (cryoTEM) and was consistent with the concepts underlying polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). High solids content latexes were finally targeted with a formulation more in line with industrial constraints (0.4 wt% macroCTA, 35 bar ethylene pressure, semi-batch conditions). A stable P(VAc-co-E) latex was produced exhibiting a solids content of 38 wt%. This work provides an easy access to a full range of alternative stabilization modes for P(VAc-co-E) latexes and potentially to new VAE and EVA products.

Graphical abstract: Poly(vinyl acetate-co-ethylene) particles prepared by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization in the presence of a hydrophilic RAFT/MADIX macromolecular chain transfer agent

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Sep 2020
Accepted
16 Oct 2020
First published
16 Oct 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Polym. Chem., 2020,11, 7410-7420

Poly(vinyl acetate-co-ethylene) particles prepared by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization in the presence of a hydrophilic RAFT/MADIX macromolecular chain transfer agent

J. Delorme, O. Boyron, P. Dugas, P. Dufils, D. J. Wilson, V. Monteil, F. D'Agosto and M. Lansalot, Polym. Chem., 2020, 11, 7410 DOI: 10.1039/D0PY01266A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements