Synthesis of Polyvinylacetate‐Sodium Montmorillonite Hybrids by Emulsion Polymerization in the Presence of Anionic Surfactants

This work was done with financial support of Romanian R‐D Program CERES (grant no. 4‐23/2004).

The emulsion polymerisation of vinyl acetate (VAc) in presence of sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) and sodium montmorillonite (NaMMT) is used in order to achieve polymer‐clay hybrids. The influence of the polyvinylacetate (PVAc), SDS, and PVAc‐SDS complex on the NaMMT structure also was investigated. The VAc emulsion polymerization rate exhibits a maximum as the NaMMT concentration increases. The XRD patterns correspond to hybrids with intercalated structure. If a water soluble comonomer, ammonium sulphato ethylmethacrylate (ASEMA) is used for copolymerization with VAc, a exfoliated hybrid structure (from XRD spectra) is obtained. The solid materials were analysed by TGA, FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TEM.

Keywords:

• Clay
• poly(vinyl acetate)
• emulsion polymerization
• X‐ray diffraction

Notes

This work was done with financial support of Romanian R‐D Program CERES (grant no. 4‐23/2004).