Preparation of highly concentrated inverse emulsions of acrylamide‐based anionic copolymers as efficient water rheological modifiers

Highly concentrated inverse anionic polymeric emulsions (with a solid content of up to 63 wt %) were prepared using a two‐step methodology: (i) First, acrylamide, acrylic acid, and its ammonium salts crosslinked copolymers were obtained by inverse emulsion polymerization, (ii) The water/volatile oil mixture was then separated from the heterogeneous system by vacuum distillation. To maintain sufficient stability during the reaction and distillation processes, a ternary surfactant mixture was used. A surface response methodology was employed to obtain the optimal values of the factors involved in both process and product specifications, and to maximize the high performance of these inverse anionic polymer emulsions. This yielded a product containing up to 63.2 wt % solids capable of achieving Brookfield viscosities as high as 40.3 Pa·s, using an aliquote of these concentrated inverse polymer emulsions (1.8 wt % in deionized water). Rheological characterization (oscillatory and rotational measurements) was carried out to evaluate the behavior of the diluted inverse anionic polymer emulsion in water thickening. The methodology developed can be used to formulate a wide range of viscoelastic (G″/G′) water‐based products from anionic water soluble polymers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43502.