Kinetics and polymerization characteristics for some polyvinyl acetate emulsions prepared by different redox pair initiation systems

The emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate was carried out using different sodium bisulfite adducts (containing the same weight equivalent of bisulfite anion) as reducing agents with potassium persulfate as an oxidising agent at low temperature. The polymerization evaluation was followed by taking samples at regular intervals. The average volume diameters, the areas and the number of polymer particles per unit volume of water ( Nt) for some prepared emulsion latices were calculated with the aid of transmission electron microscopy and image analyzer techniques. Also, it was found that the rate of emulsion polymerization decreases in the following order: acetone sodium bisulfite (AcSBS) > methyl propyl ketone sodium bisulfite (MpKSBS) > octyl aldehyde sodium bisulfite (OASBS) > acetaldehyde sodium bisulfite (ASBS) > benzaldehyde sodium bisulfite (BSBS) > salicylaldehyde sodium bisulfite (SSBS) > cyclohexanone sodium bisulfite (ChSBS), while the particle size of the prepared emulsions increases in the following order: (OASBS)