Stability and copolymerization of concentrated emulsion of styrene and butyl acrylate in the presence of polyurethane macromonomer

A study has been made of the stability and copolymerization of concentrated emulsion of styrene (St) and butyl acrylate (BA) in the presence of polyurethane macromonomer (DPUA), which contains C?C at one end. First, the DPUA macromonomer was synthesized from the appropriate amount of 2,4‐diisocyanate (TDI), polypropylene glycol (PPG), 2‐hydroxyethyl methylacrylate (HEMA), dimethylolpropionic acid (DMPA), and triethylamine (TEA) by four steps. Then, the DPUA was dissolved in St‐BA monomer mixtures. The DPUA/St‐BA concentrated emulsion copolymerization using sodium dodecyl sulfate/cetyl alcohol (SDS/CA) as composite surfactant and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as liquid film reinforcer, and ammonium persulfate/sodium hydrogen sulfate (APS/SHS) as redox initiator system was carried out at 30°C. The effect of NCO/OH molar ratio, surfactants' concentration, mass ratio of DPUA/St‐BA, initiators' concentration, volume fraction of the monomer phase (Φ), and temperature on the stability or the copolymerization of the concentrated emulsion of DPUA/St‐BA were investigated. The average size and distribution of the latex particles obtained under different conditions were also analyzed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 1992–1999, 2007