AbstractEvidence was obtained supporting the theory that monomer droplets can become a locus of initiation and propagation in emulsion polymerization. This was done by reducing the size of the monomer droplets prior to initiation of polymerization using different preemulsification techniques for a typical latex recipe containing a common anionic surfactant. Monomer droplet size reduction caused an increase in the total surface area of the monomer droplets and thereby increased the competitiveness of these droplets for capturing active free radicals which are generated in the aqueous phase. As the total surface area of the monomer droplets was increased by preemulsification, a corresponding increase in the number of large particles formed by polymerization of these monomer droplets was experimentally measured. This work shows that monomer droplets are a locus of emulsion polymerization. However, the importance of monomer droplet polymerization is limited by their total surface area because of the competition for free radicals with other surfaces and/or particle nucleation processes. The results offer a basis for explaining why broad, and sometimes bimodal, particle size distributions are obtained in some commercial processes where the reactants are preemulsified prior to being charged into a reaction vessel.
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