Preparation and properties of alkoxysilane/acrylate copolymer microemulsion

A novel alkoxysilane/acrylate copolymer microemulsion was prepared by copolymerization of vinylmethyldiethoxysilane and acrylic monomers using a composite emulsifier system composing of ordinary anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), nonionic po1yoxyethylene octylphenol ether (OP-10), and n-butanol as co-surfactant, ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator. The effects of polymerization processes, reaction conditions and the polymer content on the copolymer microemulsion were investigated, respectively. The structure of the copolymer was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy. FT-IR spectrum analysis of the latex film indicated that copolymerization occurred. The morphology and size of the microlatex particles had been characterized by TEM and photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS), respectively. Results showed that seeded microemulsion polymerization with a high temperature emulsification process was superior for producing stable copolymer microlatexes. With high alkoxysilane content (30 wt.%), high copolymer content (37.5 wt.%) and low emulsifiers content (5 wt.%), the nanoparticles in the range from 20 nm to 60 nm were obtained.