Crosslinked terpolymers of Ethyl acrylate/Butyl acrylate/Methacylic acid were synthesized using emulsion polymerization for the development of a new liquid acrylic rheology modifier for personal care applications. However, some most fundamental characteristics of the lightly crosslinked polymers could not be analyzed using SEC due to insufficient separation limits and unfavorable interactions between the polymers and the packing materials of the SEC columns. Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) has been used widely in investigating protein aggregates since it’s been introduced while much less have been reported for its use in analyzing crosslinking polymer materials.<br/><br/>In this study, crosslinked terpolymers of EA/BA/MAA with varying levels of crosslinking were thoroughly studied by FFF. Baseline-resolved separations of crosslinked/non-crosslinked fractions were achieved and the crosslinked % was calculated. With multi-angle light scattering detector (MALS), the molecular weight, size and chain conformation are easily characterized, all those results showed expected trend as with more crosslinker addition, polymers had higher crosslinked %, higher molecular weights and more compact structures. Close correlations of such fundamental characteristics with the final product properties, such as visual appearance, yield value or swelling efficiency, were established. This method has provided some the key guidance for both the R&D and manufacturing process.

Characterization of crosslinked alkali-swellable terpolymers by FFF-MALS

256th National Meeting (2018)

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