Effect of Poly(butyl acrylate)-Poly(methyl methacrylate) Rubber Particle Texture on the Toughening Behavior of Poly(methyl methacrylate)

Monodisperse composite latex particles with size of ca. 300 nm, which consist ofn-butyl acrylate as a soft phase and methyl methacrylate as a hard phase with different morphology, were synthesized by seeded multi-stage emulsion polymerization. Three types of composite latex particles including random-, core/shell-, and gradient-type particles were obtained by using different monomer feeding methods during semi-batch emulsion polymerization. Effect of poly(butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate) rubber particle morphology on the mechanical and rheological properties of rubber toughened poly(methyl methacrylate) was investigated. Among three different rubber particles, the gradient-type rubber particle showed better toughening effect than others. No significant variation of rheological property of poly(methyl methacrylate)/rubber blends was observed for the different rubber particle morphology.