MINIEMULSIONS USING STATIC MIXERS: PART 2. CO-EMULSIFICATION AND COMPOSITE MATERIALS USING SMX STATIC MIXERS

A 50:50 mixture of methylmethacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate was emulsified, then polymerised using different static mixers. It was shown that the emulsification behaviour was very different from that observed for MMA alone under similar conditions. It was shown that the hydrophobicity of the monomers had a strong influence on the droplet size and stability. It was also shown that the amount of work done on the emulsion is important for obtaining polymerisable droplets, and that monomer systems that are difficult to miniemulsify with a low energy system can in fact be made to form stable emulsions simply by changing the emulsification conditions. Finally, it was shown that when the miniemulsification conditions are correctly chosen, it is possible to generate miniemulsion dispersions containing silica that can be successfully polymerised to produce silica/polyacrylic nanocomposites.