Rheology of concentrated multi-sized poly(St/BA/MMA) latices

A novel polymerization method based on pressure drop for monomodal high solid content low viscosity latexes of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate)

Secondary nucleation followed by limited flocculation of particles could be caused by pressure drop, further, PSD of latex was optimized.

High solid content latex: preparation methods and application

One of the major challenges in emulsion polymerization over the past two decades was how to increase the solid content of latex products. In contrast to the conventional latex, high solid content (HSC) latex has a large volume fraction of dispersed phase, even larger than 70% in weight. Conventional emulsion polymerization, miniemulsion polymerization, self-emulsification polymerization and concentrated emulsion polymerization were all used to prepare HSC latexes, and many good results have been reported in recent years. Meanwhile, many applications of HSC latexes have also been developed. The present review summarized the progresses in the past few years mainly on the preparation methods and application of HSC latexes. Finally, some research directions as well as prospects were also proposed.

High refractive index nanocomposite fluids for immersion lithography

The concept of using dispersions of nanoparticles as high refractive index fluids in immersion lithography is examined both from a theoretical and experimental point of view. In the theoretical part we show that gelation and demixing can be controlled in high solid dispersions, needed to achieve a high (refractive) index, by using short stabilizing brushes. We considered both fluid-fluid demixing by using statistical thermodynamics and percolation, computed using liquid-state approaches. Whenever demixing or percolation takes place, the nanoparticle dispersion is unsuited for immersion lithography. The minimum thickness of the stabilizer layer of a stable suspension is estimated assuming particles plus steric stabilizer to act as hard spheres with van der Waals attraction between the cores. Since the van der Waals attraction can be related to the optical properties of the particles and dispersion medium, it is also possible to estimate the refractive index that can be attained with composite immersion fluids. Using materials that are known to be highly transparent in the bulk at a wavelength of 193 nm, indices above 1.8 can be attained. Other materials with higher indices are expected to be transparent at 193 nm due to a blue shift of the UV absorption and enable much higher indices. In the experiment, we show that it is possible to prepare suspensions with particles of about 4 nm diameter that increase the refractive index of the continuous phase with 0.2 at a wavelength of 193 nm. The refractive index and density of such dispersions are proportional to the volume fraction of the disperse phase, and it is shown that the refractive index of the composite fluid can be predicted very well from the optical properties of the components. Furthermore, successful imaging experiments were performed through a dispersion of silica nanoparticles. These findings lead to the conclusion that immersion lithography using nanoparticle dispersions is indeed possible.

Study on Laminar Viscosity and Zero Shear Viscosity of Latex Systems

The flowing nature and rheological properties of polymethyl methacrylate latex systems in a coaxial cylinder viscometer were studied on the basis of laminar shear flow model and rheological experimental data. The physical meaning of laminar viscosity (eta(i,j)) and zero shear viscosity (eta(0)) were described. We assumed that laminar shear flows depended on position and shear time, so microrheological parameters were the function of position and shear time. eta(i,j) was the viscosity of any shear sheet i between two neighboring laminar shear flows at time t; j was denoted as j=t/Deltat; and Deltat was the interacting time of two particles or two laminar shear flows. tau(i,j) and gamma(i,j) were shear stress and shear rate of any shear sheet i at j moment. According to Newton regulation tau(i,j)=eta(i,j)gamma(i,j), apparent viscosity eta(a) should be a statistically mean value of j shear sheets laminar viscosity at j moment, i.e., eta(a)= summation operator(i=j)eta(i,j)gamma(i,j)/ summation operator(i=j)gamma(i,j). eta(0) was defined as shear viscosity between a laminar shear flow and a still fluid surface, i.e., eta(0)=(tau(i,j)/gamma(i,j))(j-i-->0). These new ideas described above may be helpful in the study of the micromechanisms of latex particle systems and worthy of more research.