ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Emulsion polymerization belongs to the class of heterophase polymerizations that comprises a wide variety of different techniques generally characterized by their heterogeneous nature. This can mean liquid in gas, solid in gas, liquid in liquid, and solid in liquid heterogeneous systems. The participation of stabilizers is important in the cases in which at least one component stays liquid throughout the whole process. Considering only liquid dispersion media (or continuous phases), then suspension, microsuspension, miniemulsion, microemulsion, and dispersion polymerization belong with emulsion polymerization to the polymerization techniques leading to polymer dispersions. A polymer dispersion is considered to consist of a polymer that is finely distributed in a liquid dispersion medium in the form of stable individual particles. It does not matter whether the polymer is a solid or a highly viscous fluid at a given temperature. In principle, the liquid forming the continuous phase can be any liquid in which the polymer is insoluble. In the following, water is considered exclusively as the dispersion medium because these systems are the most technically important; furthermore, the significance of water as a dispersion medium will increase considerably in the future for environmental reasons.
