Preparation of Polymer Nanoparticles and Application on Nitrile-Butadiene Rubber Reinforcement

The different amount of hydrophilic hydroxyl group, including 3, 5, 7 and 10 wt.% copoly (styrene-co - divinyl benzene – co - 2-hydroxylethylenemethacrylate) (poly (St - co - DVB - co - HEMA) s) nanoparticles were synthesized via microemulsion polymerization in the present paper. The average size of the poly (St -co - DVB -co- HEMA) s was ca. 44 nm after zetasizer (DLS) measurement and SEM observation. The characteristic peaks at 3200 ~3600 cm -1 in FTIR was assigned at hydroxyl group of HEMA unit. The NBR/poly (St -co- DVB -co- HEMA) s composites films with 250 μm thickness were prepared simply via latex mixing and followed by spinning coating. The mechanical properties of the poly (St -co- DVB -co- HEMA) s/rubber nanocomposites, including the tensile strength, modulus and elongation, were increased with that of increasing of poly (St -co- DVB -co- HEMA) s adding. In addition, as the poly (St -co- DVB -co- HEMA) s nanoparticles carried out with constant St/HEMA molar ratio of 97:3 and the DVB content in 10 wt.%, the elongation at break that up to more than 3500% and the ultimate stress increased from 0.2 MPa to 0.6 MPa. The poly (St -co- DVB -co- HEMA) s nanoparticles prepared by emulsion polymerization could be successfully enhanced the mechanical properties of rubber latex.