Soap-free poly(methyl methacrylate-ethyl acrylate-methacrylic acid) latex particles with narrow size distribution were synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization, and the porous particles were created by a stepwise alkali/acid treatment method. Effects of acid treatment conditions on the particle morphology were investigated. Results show that one to three pores were formed inside most of particles after post-treatment. At pH 7.0, when the treatment temperature was lower than 70℃, the size of particles and the volume of pores remained almost unchanged, and these two values increased significantly when the temperature was higher than 70℃. Both the particle size and the pore volume decreased with the increase of initial pH value and treatment time in the acid treatment. As the pH was below 4.0 and the treatment time was longer than 180 min, the particles shrunk in size.
Soap-free P(MMA-EA-MAA) particles with narrow size distribution were synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethyl acrylate (EA) and methacrylic acid (MAA), and large voids inside the particles were generated by alkali posttreatment in the presence of 2-butanone. Results indicated that the size of void and the particle volume were related with the amount of 2-butanone. The generation mechanism of voids was proposed.
