Emulsion Copolymerization of Styrene with Multifunctional Monomer

Abstract The concentration effect of crosslinking agents divinylbenzene, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate on the emulsion copolymerization rate with styrene initiated by K2S2O8/Na2S2O4.2H2O system was investigated. The latex particle size, the gel content and the polymer viscosity numbers were also determined. In the case of styrene – EGDMA, the crosslinker concentration varied from 0.036 to 1.13 mol/L. We found that the EGDMA concentration does not influence the crosslinking rate of as much as the gel fraction content. High gel content was observed at the beginning of copolymerization. For styrene – EGDMA the reativity ratios were calculated as: r1 = 0.28 and r2 = 0.98.