Effect of annealing rate on film formation from poly(vinyl acetate) latex particles

The photon transmission technique was used to monitor the time and temperature evolution of film formation from poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) latex particles. The latex films were prepared below the glass transition temperature (T g) of PVAc. These films were annealed at various annealing rates above the T g of PVAc. It was observed that transmitted photon intensity (I tr) from these films increased at all annealing rates as the annealing time and temperature are increased. The increase in the I tr is attributed to the increase in crossing density at the junction surface. The healing points (τ H , T H) were determined for various annealing rates and the healing activation energy (ΔH) was measured and found to be 43.4 kcal/mol. The interdiffusion (backbone) activation energies (ΔE) and reptation frequencies (ν) of PVAc chains were measured. The averaged value of ΔE was found to be 226.6 kcal/mol. It is observed that ΔE is unchanged but ν is increased as increasing the annealing rates.