Preparation of Polymer Composite Particles by Phase Separation Followed by Suspension Polymerization

Abstract

The novel method for preparing the polymer composite particles has been developed. It was tried to prepare polymer composite particles composed of polystyrene and carbon black with the phase separation method followed by suspension polymerization. In order to prepare the polymer composite particles with the more uniform diameter, the styrene monomer droplets containing carbon black were formed with phase separation emulsification in which ethyl alcohol and water were used as the good solvent and the poor solvent for styrene monomer, respectively. In the experiment, the surfactant species and their concentrations, the pouring velocity of water and the weight ratio of carbon black to styrene monomer were mainly changed. Water was poured at the given pouring velocity into ethyl alcohol in which styrene monomer and an initiator were dissolved and carbon black was dispersed beforehand. The spherical polymer composite particles containing carbon black were prepared with Tween 20 and Tween 80 of nonionic surfactants and the irregular polymer composite particles were prepared with PVA, SDS and Kotamine. The diameters of polymer composite particles increased with the pouring velocity of water and with the weight ratio of carbon black to styrene monomer.