Preparation of calcium carbonate/poly(methyl methacrylate) composite microspheres by soapless emulsion polymerization

✍ Scribed by Xiaokun Ma; Bing Zhou; Ye Sheng; Chengyu Wang; Yan Pan; Shanshan Ma; Ye Gao; Zichen Wang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 540 KB
• Volume: 105
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.26486

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Calcium carbonate (CaCO~3~)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composite microspheres were synthesized in a soapless emulsion polymerization process. CaCO~3~ nanoparticles were pretreated with oleic acid to improve the compatibility between CaCO~3~ and the monomer methyl methacrylate, and this effectively enhanced the mass fraction of CaCO~3~ in the composite. The results of the thermogravimetric analysis showed that the thermal stability of the composite microspheres was better than that of PMMA. X‐ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared were applied to investigate the chemical and physical properties of the composite microspheres, and the results proved that the composites were composed of CaCO~3~ and PMMA. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy pictures showed that the morphology of the composite microspheres was uniform, and the CaCO~3~ nanoparticles could be well dispersed in the polymeric matrix. The soapless emulsion polymerization process effectively increased the filling amount of CaCO~3~ in the composite microspheres. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007