Synthesis and characterization of comb-like acrylic-based polymer latexes containing nano-sized crystallizable domains

Acrylic-based composite latexes containing nano-sized liquid crystalline domains

“…In a previous work we have already shown that the incorporation of crystalline domains of poly(stearyl acrylate) (poly(SA)) in an amorphous SC(M)A copolymer matrix improves the mechanical and barrier properties, and water sensitivity of amorphous SC(M)A copolymer [7,8]. However, the temperature range of applications is limited by the melting point of the crystalline domains, which is only 50 C. The incorporation of LCPs with higher melting point can expand the temperature range of application.…”

“…Fig. 12(a) presents the tensile properties measured at 23 C and 55% relative humidity of the processed film at 200 C from Run A-6-20 and the semicrystalline latex containing 20 wt% poly(SA) (latex 6D in Reference [8]). It is worth mentioning that for the comparison, the film from latex 6D was also processed at 200 C. It can be seen that when the test is carried out at 23 C, the Young's modulus and the yield stress of the film containing poly(SA) domains are slightly higher than those of the film containing poly(6-MLCM), whereas the ultimate strength, elongation at break and toughness are higher in the latter.…”

“…It is noticeable that the elongation at break of these two films when tested at 60 C is higher than the height of the oven used for the 12. Stress-strain behavior at (a) controlled condition (23 C and 55% humidity), and (b) 60 C, of the films processed at 200 C from the latexes containing poly(SA) (Run 6D in Reference [8]) and poly(6-MLCM) (Run A- [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. *The tensile test should be stopped because the geometrical limit of the oven was reached.…”

“…These polymers exhibit many useful properties but because of their amorphous structure, they are inferior in terms of mechanical properties (toughness), water resistance, barrier properties and durability to polyolefins. It has been shown that these properties can be improved by incorporating crystalline domains in an amorphous (meth)acrylic polymer matrix via crystallization of the lateral alkyl chains of long chain n-alkyl acrylate monomers [7]. The long chain n-alkyl acrylate domains were introduced into the polymer particles via miniemulsion polymerization [8].…”

“…It has been shown that these properties can be improved by incorporating crystalline domains in an amorphous (meth)acrylic polymer matrix via crystallization of the lateral alkyl chains of long chain n-alkyl acrylate monomers [7]. The long chain n-alkyl acrylate domains were introduced into the polymer particles via miniemulsion polymerization [8]. However, the temperature range of applications of those polymer latexes is relatively narrow as the melting point of the crystalline domains was only 50 C. A possible way to expand this range is to incorporate liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) with high transition temperatures within the polymer particles.…”