Thickening of acrylic lattices with dispersions of crosslinked ethyl acrylate–methacrylic acid copolymers

Abstract Thickening of three model lattices of copolymers of ethyl acrylate and 0–2 wt.% of acrylic acid using dispersions of ethyl acrylate–methacrylic acid copolymer crosslinked with 0.25–5 wt.% of N , N ′-methylenebisacrylamide was investigated. Measurement of the static light scattering revealed that the highest thickening effect occurred when, after alkalinisation, a sufficient amount of highly swollen crosslinked particles arose from the thickener. Viscoelastic properties of this basic matrix are a decisive factor for the rheological behaviour of thickening material.