Introduction
Polymer latex films find a great number of applications
in the fields of paints, coatings, textiles, papers, and
adhesives [1, 2]. Although many researchers still propose
somewhat different mechanisms to account for the for-
mation of polymer latex films, a generally acceptable one
can be summarized with three steps [2, 3, 4]: a linear
cumulative water loss and an irreversible contact be-
tween particles; a deformation of the particles and a
close contact between the particles by means of large
interfacial forces; and the diffusion of polymer chains
through the contact surfaces (autohesion). In this pro-
cess, one should consider the glass-transition tempera-
ture, T
g
, [5, 6] and cross-linking [3, 7, 8] of the latex
polymers, the water resistance [9], the presence of sur-
factants [10, 11], and so on. Until now most studies have
dealt with theoretical or, in some aspects, the basic ex-
perimental approach of the formation of homopolymer
latex films, except for the consideration of the effect of
additives such as surfactants. For the past decade,
however, some research groups have studied the film
formation of core–shell latex particles [12, 13, 14].
Nevertheless, there are only a few reports of investiga-
tions of structured polymer latex films; these investiga-
tions are needed to improve the inherently poor
mechanical properties of conventional latex films and to
introduce high functional moieties to the film phase.
There also have been no studies to investigate the film
formation of shell–cross-linked polymer latexes.
In this study, we present nanostructured polymer
latex films that are synthesized by considering system-
atically the morphology of the latex phases. To synthe-
size tailor-made biphasic polymer latexes, the latex
structure was designed with a polymer core and a cross-
linked poly(ethylene oxide)-rich shell. The film-forming
process of such latexes can be significantly affected by
the triblock macro-cross-linker surrounding the
poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) core particles. Be-
sides, the functionality of the film formed from such
composite latexes is governed by the characteristics of
the shell.
ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION
Colloid Polym Sci (2002) 280: 963–967
DOI 10.1007/s00396-002-0706-z
Sung-Woo Park
Jin-Woong Kim
Jung-Bae Jun
Kyung-Do Suh
Nanostructured latex films from poly(butyl
methacrylate) latex cross-linked with poly
(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–
poly(ethylene oxide) triblock macro-cross-linker
Received: 25 October 2001
Accepted: 27 March 2002
Published online: 4 July 2002
Ó Springer-Verlag 2002
S.-W. Park Æ J.-B. Jun Æ K.-D. Suh (&)
Division of Chemical Engineering,
College of Engineering,
Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea
E-mail: kdsuh@hanyang.ac.kr
Tel.: +82-2-22900526
Fax: +82-2-22952102
J.-W. Kim
Cosmetics Research Institute, Pacific
Corporation R&D Center, 314-1 Bora-ri,
Kiheung-eup, Yongin-si, Kyunggi-do,
449-900, Korea
Abstract Biphasic polymer latexes
were synthesized by a seeded swell-
ing and polymerization method. The
latexes were composed of a
poly(butyl methacrylate) core and a
poly(ethylene oxide) rich shell cross-
linked with poly(ethylene oxide)-
poly (propylene oxide)–poly(ethyl-
ene oxide) triblock diol diacrylate
macro-cross-linker. Nanostructured
films were obtained by annealing the
biphasic polymer latexes at a tem-
perature between the glass-transition
temperatures of the core latex and
the cross-linked poly(ethylene oxide)
based shell. Atomic force micro-
scope images of the latex film
revealed that the poly(butyl
methacrylate) core phase is confined
in the poly(ethylene oxide)-rich
continuous phase with the form of
separate nanosized spheres.
Keywords Triblock macro-cross-
linker Æ Biphasic polymer latex Æ
Nanostructured latex film Æ Atomic
force microscope image