ABSTRACT
The studies on microemulsion polymerization of styrene and methyl methacrylate for the past decade have been carried out in four-component oil-in-water microemulsion which consisted of monomer, surfactant, cosurfactant and water. Stable Polystyrene particles formed in the microemulsion phase are viewed as “seeds” for further growth of polymer particles by continuously recruiting monomers from the styrene phase. The styrene phase acts only as a monomer reservoir which continuously diffuses to the microemulsion phase. The newly formed polymer particles grow via the supply of monomer from both microemulsion droplets and the inactive monomer-swollen polymer particles, either by diffusion and/or collision. The basic ternary system can be continuously changed from turbid emulsions to transparent microemulsions by only increasing the surfactant concentration at a fixed weight ratio of monomer to water. The emulsion/microemulsion in a ground-glass tube was first frozen by liquid nitrogen and degassed at about 10 Torr for one freeze-thaw cycle.
