Production of Stable Artificial Polyisoprene Suspensions with a Positive Particle Charge

Abstract

The work presents the results of production of artificial aqueous polyisoprene suspensions based on isoprene rubber SKI-3. The method consisted of preparing an organic solution of rubber and an aqueous solution of a cationic surfactant, emulsifying the rubber solution with an aqueous solution of the surfactant: in the first stage, a coarse emulsion was obtained by mixing the solutions with a magnetic stirrer, and in the second stage, a finely dispersed emulsion was obtained using a rotor-stator disperser. The next step involved distilling off the solvent using a rotary evaporator and concentrating the resulting suspension to 30-35% dry residue. The average particle diameter and size distribution were determined using dynamic light scattering (DLS) using a Zetasizer Nano ZS analyzer. The results of a study examining the influence of surfactant concentration on the stability, dispersion, average particle diameter, and particle size distribution of synthetic aqueous polyisoprene suspensions are presented. The cationic surfactants Azol-129 and Azol-138 selected for the study were shown to be effective stabilizers for synthetic polyisoprene suspensions. Aggregation-stable synthetic polymer suspensions with average particle diameters ranging from 529 to 1132 nm were obtained.