Oliver Wendell Smith

New vinyl ester monomers for emulsion polymers

New vinyl ester monomers are now available for the preparation of emulsion copolymers with improved hydrolytic stability and water resistance. These improved properties are the result of uniform copolymerization of hydrophobic monomers having approximately the same reactivity as vinyl acetate. Latex coatings with excellent gloss, water spot resistance, blocking and other desirable performance properties can now be obtained with vinyl acetate copolymers.

Statistical studies of branched ester latex and paint properties

Abstract Vinyl versatate, butyl acrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate were compared as comonomer, for colloid-stabilized vinyl acetate latex polymers to assess their impact on latex coating properties. Vinyl versatate afforded advantages in scrub resistance, gloss, hydrophobicity and higher glass transition temperatures. Butyl acrylate developed better wet adhesion efficiency, gel content and hiding efficiency. 2-Ethylhexyl acrylate offered performance comparable to butyl acrylate in hiding efficiency, lowering copolymer glass transition temperatures, and gloss development. Combinations of these monomers, in many instances, afforded a better balance of performance properties than individual monomers alone. In the subject study, a simplex-centroid design was utilized to statistically map polymer compositions for determining the effect of comonomer composition on latex and paint film properties. In addition to developing contour maps of polymer and paint properties as a function of composition, a technique for studying structure-property relationships is presented.