Morphologies and applied properties of PSI/PA composite particles synthesized at low temperature

Abstract Latex with a poly(dimethyl‐siloxane) core and a poly(methylmethacrylate‐ butylacrylate‐ 2‐hydroxypropyl acrylate) shell have been prepared at low temperature with potassium‐persulphate (KPS), sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate (SFS) and 2,2′‐azobis [2‐(2‐imidazolin‐ 2‐yl)propane] dihydrochloride (VA‐044) as composite initiators by staged emulsion polymerization. Reactive surfactants were used to significantly improve the applied properties such as water adsorption ratio and thermo‐properties. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results indicated that increasing the amount of 2‐hydroxypropyl acrylate (HPA) and butylacrylate (BA) was favorable to form the core/shell particles. Particle size distribution results showed with increasing the dosages of surfactants, initiators, and seed‐latex, particle size decreased. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) results indicated the high temperature‐reserved of copolymer was improved in the presence of polysiloxane. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers