Polyurethane‐acrylic hybrid emulsions with high acrylic/polyurethane ratios: Synthesis, characterization, and properties

ABSTRACT Allyl polyoxyethylene ether (APEE) was used as coupling agent between polyurethane (PU) and acrylic polymer (AC) to synthesize stable waterborne polyurethane‐acrylic (PU‐AC) hybrid emulsions with high AC/PU weight ratio ranged from 45/55 to 70/30. The effect of the AC/PU weight ratio and the acrylate type including methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BA) and mixture of them on the properties of the synthesized emulsions and resultant films were investigated. The research results showed that the colloidal particle of the emulsions behaved core‐shell structure, and the copolymers were not crosslinked. An increase in the AC/PU weight ratio led to an increase in the average particles size and the particle size distribution, but decrease in the viscosity of the emulsions. Meanwhile, the molecular weight distribution of the copolymers became wide, and the tensile stress, shore A hardness, storage modulus, glass transfer temperature, water resistance, and water contact angle of the resultant films increased, except that the films of PU‐BA were too soft to determine their mechanical properties. MMA and BA can provide the PU‐AC hybrid emulsions with very different properties, and which can be adjusted according to the special application. It was suggested that APEE can not only built up chemical bonds between PU and AC, but also increase the self‐emulsifying ability in the emulsion polymerization due to its hydrophilic ethylene oxide and carboxylic groups, resulting in that PU‐AC hybrid emulsions with high AC/PU ratio can be obtained by this method. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44488.