PREPARATION OF STERICALLY STABILISED AQUEOUS POLYMER DISPERSIONS

摘要

A method of preparing a stable dispersion in an aqueous medium of particles of polymer in which stabilisation of the particles against flocculation is effected by a steric mechanism. The method comprises (i) forming a sterically stabilized dispersion in a non-aqueous liquid of a first polymer insoluble in the non-aqueous liquid and in water; (ii) polymerizing monomer in the same non-aqueous liquid in the presence of the particles of the first polymer and of a steric stabilizer, so as to form a second polymer which is soluble in the chosen aqueous medium; (iii) transferring the resulting particles to the aqueous medium. There may be prepared in this way aqueous dispersions of polymers incorporating units of water-soluble monomers, which are diffiult to make by known aqueous emulsion polymerization techniques.