Polydispersity and Functional Group Distribution of Dispersant Polymer: Adsorption Properties and Magnetic Paint Dispersion

The quantitative analysis examining the functional group distribution of a dispersant polymer for magnetic paints is conducted by statistical estimation and adsorption experiments. The dispersant polymer contains averagely one or two functional groups on the chain, and has generally large polydispersity. By the calculation based on the random distribution of the functional group and the molecular weight, a typical design of the dispersant polymer is found to contain a significant amount of nonfunctionalized chains and highly functionalized ones. In adsorption experiments, the adsorbed amount of the polymer mass and the functional group are separately measured to determine the functional group distribution. The distribution is also evaluated by a sequential adsorption experiment, in which the chains are fractionated by the adsorption strength. Obtained experimental results agree with the calculated results. A practical method for increasing the effective chains in the paint is to make use of a preferential adsorption of the functionalized chain.