Preparation of uniform poly(methyl methacrylate) particles by dispersion polymerization

Being different from other dispersion polymerizations which use nonpolar fatty hydrocarbons or methanol-water as media,this article presents the preparation of poly(methyl methacrylate) particles in alcohol-water mixture. In experiments, a certain heating way is applied: at first, the reaction occurs at a relatively high temperature for a given time; then the temperature is lowed and the reaction continues at that temperature to the end. This procedure results in a largely narrowed size distribution. The effects of initiator on the particle size and size distribution are also studied. It is found that even a small amount of KPS can decrease the size of particles and broaden the size distribution apparently.