Ulilization of ethoxylate surfactants in emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate

Abstract

This these focuses on the study of emulsion copolymerization of methyl mathacrylate-buty acrylate using four tyoes of ethoxylate surfactants: nonylphenol ethoxylates nonylphenol sulfates, fatty alcohol ethoxylates and fatty alchol ethoxylate sulfates. The conventional nonylphenol type surfactants are currently banned in European countries because some of their degradation intermediates are toxic. The main objective of this research work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the more environmentally friendly fatty alcohol surfactants to be used in place of the nonlphenol surfactants. The study showed that there was no significant difference in their effectiveness between the nonylphenol and fatty alcohol series. There, however, considerable differences in their effectiveness between the nonionic ethoxylate and anionic ethoxylate sulfate surfactants especially for their emulsifying ability for the monomers. The use of the anionic ethoxylate sulfate surfactants provided the latex products with greater stability and better film formation. The study also revealed the relationship between the surfactant concentration and the latex particle size. Within a suitable range, the higher concentration of the surfactants gave the smaller latex particle which in turn increased the viscosity and general quality of the latex.