Hydroplasticization of polymers: model predictions and application to emulsion polymers.

The plasticization of a polymer by solvent has a dramatic impact on both its thermal and mechanical behavior. With increasing demand for zero volatile organic compound materials and coatings, water is often the sole solvent used both in the polymer synthesis and in formulation and application; latex colloids derived from emulsion polymerization are a good example. The impact of water on the glass transition temperature of a polymer thus becomes a critical physical property to predict.

Probing the surface of polymer colloids by conductometric surfactant titration.

This work revisits the use of surfactant titrations for the characterization of latex particle surfaces. Experiments were performed to study the effect of comonomer composition and the effect of acid comonomers, and the technique is applied to the characterization of particle morphology in composite latices for several different systems. It is confirmed that the packing density of surfactant on a polymer surface is a linear function of copolymer composition.