| Abstract: | This report discusses the drying behavior of monodispersed polystyrene latex at elevating temperature with particular attention to the relationship between water evaporation rate and morphological evolution during the film formation process. At the first stage, water evaporation rate was less influenced by the skin film formed at the latex/air interface, which was consistent with Croll's model. During this stage, a drying front advanced from the top film toward the bulk dispersion. At the final stage of film formation, the water evaporation rate was less than that of the initial stage, and another drying front developed from the interior region outside the system. Two distinct boundaries corresponding to the opposite directions of the second drying front between completely dried region and wet region were found if the film was peeled off the container surface. Besides, some particular morphologies were found in the completely dried region, which was likely related to preferable coalescence among the particles induced by capillary force because of water evaporation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 1835–1840, 2001 |
