BATCH POLYMERIZATION OF METHYL-METHACRYLATE IN MINI MACROEMULSIONS

The kinetics of the isothermal batch macroemulsion and miniemulsion polymerizations of methyl methacrylate (MMA) at 50-degrees-C have been studied. Hexadecane was used as the cosurfactant or swelling agent. The nucleation mechanisms were observed to be different between macroemulsions and miniemulsions. The effect of surfactant, cosurfactant, initiator, shear, and hold time on droplet nucleation was studied. The miniemulsion particles were found to contain more radicals on average than the macroemulsion particles using certain recipes. This resulted in higher polymerization rates for the miniemulsions at identical particle numbers. The latex particle-size distributions were similar even though the mini-emulsion droplets start out with a high polydispersity of around 1.5. Miniemulsion latexes were found to be more stable under shear. Conductance of emulsions during polymerization was found to be a valuable on-line tool for investigating particle nucleation and growth.