Novel high-efficiency Poly(butyl acrylate-co-2-ethylhexyl acrylate) grafting of Poly(methyl methacrylate) impact modifier: Synthesis and application

Polyacrylate latexes with uniform particle size and excellent dispersion were successfully synthesized via emulsion copolymerization of butyl acrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate with different types of grafting agents. The effect of grafting agent type for residual double bonds of seed latex was discussed. The results indicated that the residue double bonds of acrylic seed latex of graft agents with non-equally active double bonds were higher than acrylic seed latex of graft agents with equally active double bonds. Acrylic impact modifiers (ACR) were generated by using an emulsion grafting polymerization of polyacrylate latex as the core and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the shell for preparing poly(vinyl chlorid) (PVC)/ACR blends. Mechanical properties test analysis shows that the PVC/ACR blend reached a brittle-toughness transition when the ACR content was 8 phr, indicating that modifiers play a good toughening role in the matrix. The highest impact strength of PVC toughened through ACR (dicyclopentenyl acrylate as grafting agent) was 1682 J/m, almost 62 times than the pure PVC, whereas only 45 times than the pure PVC that of traditional ACR prepared PVC/ACR blend. Scanning electron microscope graphs showed that the shear yielding of the matrix was the major toughening mechanisms.