CONCURRENT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MONOMER - EMULSIFIER AND MONOMER - POLYMER IN POLYVINYL ACETATE LATEXES

In the poly(vinyl acetate) latexes stabilized by nonyl phenol ethoxylated with 30 moles ethylene oxide, the ratio of the amount of monomer that swells the polymer particles to that of monomer remaining in aqueous phase decreases with the increase of the emulsifier concentration.

This behaviour is due to concurrent interactions between monomer - polymer and emulsifier - polymer. At the polymer particle/water interface, the monomer interacts with the adsorbed emulsifier and prevents to swelling process from occuring.