In this work the influence of the concentration of ionic (alkyl phenol polyglycol ether sodium sulfate), and non-ionic (alkyl phenol polyglycol ether), surfactants mixture and of protective colloid (polyvinyl alcohol) on the colloidal stability of high solid contents butyl acrylate/vinyl acetate copolymers latexes was investigated. Solid contents and particle diameter were determined along the reaction and, at the end of each run, also the emulsion viscosity. The experiments were carried out according to a factorial design with three levels of surfactant and protective colloid concentrations. Higher amounts of surfactant and protective colloid per total monomers were required for the colloidal stability of emulsions with total solid contents of 70 and 73 wt. (%). The particle diameters at the end of the experiment were rather large (800 to 1000 nm) and the viscosities at 20 °C rather small (500 mPa.s) for solid contents of 67 wt. (%); for higher values of solid contents (70 and 73 wt. (%)) the viscosities were as high as 5000 to 10000 and 365000 mPa.s, respectively.
High solid contents; copolymerization; vinyl acetate; emulsion polymerization; semi-batch
