Synthesis, structure and properties of reactive acrylate

The reactive microgels with a globular structure were synthesized by self-stabilized dispersion polymerization. In this process the microgel was self-stabilized by the acrylate monomer with a long aliphatic chain serving for the dispersant. The results show that with self-stabilized dispersant agent of octadecyl acrylate (ODA) at 30mol%~40mol% and the crosslinker trimethylolpropane trimethylacrylate (TMPTMA) content at 5mol%, the microgels with particle size of about 25 nm were obtained. The results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) illustrate that the reactive microgels can be either rubbery or glassy at room temperature, by selecting different acrylate comonomers. And the microgel particles were used as effective toughening agents for EPON828/m-phenylenediamine (MPDA) networks. The best toughening properties were found in microgels with epoxy groups, which improve the thermal behavior of the epoxy resins at the same time.