Effect of Addition of Various Amounts of Kaolin Clay on the Properties of a Terpolymer of Vinyl Acetate (VAc), Butyl Acrylate (BA), and Acrylic Acid (AA)

This study describes preparing and characterizing poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) based terpolymer/kaolin clay composites. Conventional free-radical emulsion polymerization was used to prepare a terpolymer of vinyl acetate (VAc), butyl acrylate (BA), and acrylic acid (AA). 1H NMR analysis confirmed the successful preparation of the terpolymer. The conversion of the monomers was calculated gravimetrically and found to be 90 % after one hour of polymerization time. Different amounts of kaolin clay were added to the terpolymer latex and were mixed to prepare the terpolymer/kaolin clay composites. NMR, FT-IR, TGA, DSC, and FESEM analyses were used to characterize the terpolymer and terpolymer/clay composites. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus, and elongation at the break of the prepared terpolymer/clay composites were also evaluated. A rubber process analyzer (RPA) was used to study the rheological properties of the polymer composites. All the analyses establish the presence of strong clay-polymer interaction in the composite for which the prepared composites exhibit improved thermal properties.