Gamma-ray initiated miniemulsion polymerization of styrene stabilized by waterborne polyurethane

In this work, polystyrene latexes were prepared through gamma-ray initiated miniemulsion polymerization by using waterborne polyurethane (WPU) as surfactant and hexadecane (HD) as costabilizer. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and laser particle and zeta potential analyzer (LPZPA) were used to confirm the particle diameters and particle size distributions (PSD). The results indicated that polystyrene latexes with relatively small particle size diameters (30–50 nm) and narrow particle size distributions could be easily prepared by this method; the particle size could be controlled by adjusting the concentration of WPU and HD.