title: Improving water sensitivity in acrylic films using surfmers.
abstract: The water sensitivity of films obtained from high solids content acrylic latexes was investigated, with special focus on the role of the surfactant used in the synthesis step. The performance of films obtained from latexes stabilized by nonionic surfmers was compared to that of the acrylic latexes stabilized with conventional nonionic and anionic surfactants. It was seen that the latexes stabilized with reactive surfactants exhibited a remarkably better resistance to both water permeability and water vapor permeability and therefore enlarged the durability of the films. Atomic force microscopy images suggested that the defects created by surfactant migration in the latexes stabilized with conventional surfactants promoted the permeation of water by capillarity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Polymer Materials (POLYMAT) and Grupo de Ingeniería Química, Departamento de Química Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, The University of the Basque Country, Apdo. 1072, ES-20080 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aramendia
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Barandiaran
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grade
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blease
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Asua