Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16

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Progress in Organic Coatings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/porgcoat

Synthesis of fiber crosslinking cationic latex and its effect on surface properties of
paper
Xiuhua Yan a,b , Yongxin Ji b,∗ , Ting He b
a
College of Chemical and Biological, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China
b
College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Series of fiber cross-linking cationic latexes containing both epoxy and quaternary ammonium groups
Received 3 April 2012 were synthesized in the presence of styrene/butyl acrylate/steary methacrylate/dimethyl amino ethyl
Received in revised form 1 August 2012 methacrylate/epichlorohydrin (SBSDE). The chemical structure and composition of SBSDE were con-
Accepted 1 August 2012
firmed by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum (1 H NMR), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), gel
Available online 1 September 2012
permeation chromatography (GPC) analyses. Latexes were subsequently used as sizing agents and sur-
face properties (water resistance, surface strength, burst strength, whiteness, and tensile strength) of
Keywords:
paper were examined and compared. Results revealed that SBSDE was a potential candidate for emul-
Polymeric emulsifier
Fiber crosslinking cationic latex
sion polymerization. Monomer ratio, initiator type, and SBSDE content determined the properties of
Surface property latexes and strongly affected the sizing performance. The superior surface sizing agent was obtained by
Paper sizing agent using 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator, when the concentration of SBSDE was 8.5 wt%, the butyl
acrylate (BA)/styrene (St) ratio was 0.85.
Crown Copyright © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Papermaking fibers, consisting of cellulose and hemicellulose,
have a strong natural tendency to interact with water. Paper prod-
ucts widely used in liquid packaging have ended uses that require
paper resistance to diffusion and penetration of aqueous liquid.
Surface treatments such as coating and sizing are usually applied
in papermaking industry to improve surface strength as well as
barrier properties.
For surface treatment, traditionally, wax barrier sizing has been
used to provide the high degree of water resistance at a low siz-
ing cost, but the difficult in paper recycling limits the applications
of wax sizing. Polymer barrier sized papers, such as copolymers
of styrene and maleic anhydride (SMA), polyurethane (PU), and
polyacrylamide (PAM), can impart the water resistance of paper
by forming a layer of polymer film on the whole paper sheet
[1–4]. However, the effectiveness of these polymer additives can-
not fully satisfy the papermaker’s requirements. Another polymer
sizing materials such as polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephtha-
late (PET), and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) to provide barrier
properties were difficult to dispose and caused environmental
problems [5–8].
Cationic latexes such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), cationically
charged PS latexes and a polystyrene based copolymer (PSCC) were
usually chosen as the internal sizing agent [9,10]. These latexes
can be added to provide excellent water resistance. Recent stud-
ies reported that latexes can uniformly coat externally on fibers
in paper, which resulted in high resistance to water penetration
[11,12]. The cationic nature enables polymer to adhere to and
diffuse on the paper surface easily and efficiently. Furthermore,
“surfactant effects” on latexes such as ionic charge, hydrophilic-
ity, and heterogeneity improved performances of the sized paper.
Even though these researches have been reported, there still do not
have a low-cost and simple procedure, acceptable for paper making
industry.
The aim of this study was to synthesize fiber cross-linking
cationic latexes and understand the influence of latex characteris-
tics on surface properties of paper. Firstly, SBSDE was synthesized,
then latexes were synthesized in the presence of SBSDE. The latex
particle contained both epoxy and quaternary ammonium func-
tional groups, which enable adhesion between the film and fibers.
Effects of the BA/St ratio, SBSDE content and initiator type on the
properties of latexes and sizing performance were studied. This
analysis led to a better design of synthetic polymers, which could
be used as external additives for papermaking.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 25 85427432; fax: +86 25 85418873. The base paper and cationic sizing agent RM (cationic latex)
E-mail address: professorjyx@gmail.com (Y. Ji). were supplied by Shandong Wanhao Paper Group, Co., Ltd. Butyl

0300-9440/$ – see front matter Crown Copyright © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2012.08.003
12 X. Yan et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16
acrylate (BA; ≥99%), steary methylacrylate (SMA; ≥99%), and
styrene (St; ≥99%) were washed with a 10 wt% sodium hydrox-
ide solution three times and then with deionized water three
times to remove the inhibitors. Dimethyl amino ethyl methacry-
late (DM) was the functional monomer in the polymerizations.
Epichlorohydrin (ECH) was used as a quaternary ammonium and
crosslinking agent. 2,2 -azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) was recrys-
tallized from hot methanol. AIBN, 2,2 -azobis (2-amidinopropane)
dihydrochloride (AIBA), ammonium persulfate (APS), and ferrous
sulfate (FeSO4 )/hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) were used as initiators.
All other reagents were of analytical grade.
2.2. SBSDE synthesis
SBSDE was synthesized by free-radical polymerization in ethyl
acetate (EAC). The synthesis routs and chemical structure of SBSDE
were illustrated in Scheme 1. The polymerization procedure was as
follows: 6.0 g of St, 4.0 g of BA, 6.0 g of DM, 2.0 g of SMA, and 7.2 g of
EAC were introduced to 250 mL-flask fitted with a reflux condenser,
a sampling device, a nitrogen inlet, a thermometer, and a mechan-
ical stirrer. The reactor was purged with nitrogen for 15 min before
reaction. The mixture was heated to 75 ◦ C by a thermostat water
bath. After the temperature reached 75 ◦ C, AIBN (0.6 g) was added to
the reactor to start polymerization under a nitrogen atmosphere.
After being stirred at rate of 250 rpm for 2 h, another portion of
AIBN (1.2 g) was added to the reactor at 75 ◦ C, and the reaction was
maintained for 2 h. Then the temperature was decreased to 48 ◦ C
and 4 g of ECH was added to the system. Subsequently, the reaction
mixture was heated to 55 ◦ C in water batch, after 1 h the reaction
was stopped by adding acetic acid. The resulting product was dried
under vacuum, and then washed repeatedly with acetone. The final
dry product was used for subsequent analysis (yield 85.7%).
2.3. SBSDE characterization
GPC analysis was performed on a Waters 1515 GPC sys-
tem (Waters Co., America). SBSDE was dissolved in THF with
a concentration of 8 mg/mL. The flow rate of SBSDE solution
was 1.0 mL/min. Molecular weight distributions were calculated
based on polystyrene standards. The number average molecu-
lar weight (Mn) and the weight average molecular weight (Mw)
were calculated according to standard procedures, respectively.
FTIR spectrum of SBSDE was recorded on an Avatar360 FTIR
spectrometer (Nicolet Co., Wisconsin, America) in the range of
400–4000 cm−1 . 1 H NMR was performed at room temperature with
a Bruker 500 MHz NMR spectrometer (Bruker Co., America) using
deuterated chloroform (CDCl3 ) as solvent. The cationic segment
and epoxy moiety obtained by post-modification were measured
by 1 H NMR. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SBSDE was
determined at 25 ◦ C by surface tension [13].
2.4. Synthesis of functional latex particles
The functional latexes were synthesized at 85 ◦ C in a batch reac-
tor at a constant stirring rotation. The reactor was charged with 60 g
of water, 36 g of the monomer (St and BA), and appropriate amount
of SBSDE, then stirred for 15 min. The polymerization was started
by introducing 0.18 g of the initiator. After 2 h, the polymerization
was completed.
2.5. Latexes characterization
Monomer conversion was followed by gravimetric analysis. The
viscosities of latexes were determined by a NDJ-1C viscometer
(Shanghai Changji Geological Instrument Co., China) at 25 ± 0.1 ◦ C
using 1# rotor at a stirring rate of 60 rpm. The diameter and zeta
potential of particle were obtained by quasi-elastic light scattering
using zeta sizer Nano-ZS (Malvern Instruments, United Kingdom).
The reported diameter was an intensity-weighted average particle
size. The samples were diluted to 2% in deionized water.
2.6. Sizing formulation preparation
Sizing formulations were made as follows: the dry powder of
starch was added into 45 mL of DI water, and the suspension was
stirred at 95 ◦ C for 0.5 h to allow starch gelatinization. After being
cooled down to 55 ◦ C, the mixture was diluted to a concentration
of 20%. The surface sizing agent was obtained by mixing the starch
fluid with 2 g cationic latexes.
Each paper sheet was mounted on a clean bench table by taping
around the paper edges to prevent wrinkling of the paper during
sizing. The sizing was done using wire bar coaters (SA-203 Wire
Bar Coaters, Donghak Machine Co., Ltd., Korea). 8 mL of each siz-
ing solution was loaded on the prepared paper and spread over
the paper using a number of 20 wire bar coater. A wire bar coater,
originally called a Mayer Rod, and also referred to as a wire doctor
equalizer, or metering rod, was a round steel bar that was wrapped
very tightly with wire. Generally, film thickness was determined
by the thickness of a wire used. All sized paper sheets were con-
ditioned at 23 ◦ C and 50% relative humidity for at least 24 h (TAPPI
standard conditions).
2.7. Sizing performance
Cobb values, which were used to represent the amount of water
absorbed by paper after bearing water with a height of 10 mm for
a given time, such as 60 min in this study, were measured by a
DRK110 Cobb absorbency tester (Jinan Drick Instruments Co., Ltd.,
China) at room temperature [14]. Surface strengths were measured
by AIC2-5 IGT-Printability Tester (Zibo Kunwei Economic and Trade
Co., Ltd., China). Tensile strengths were tested according to TAPPI
T494 using a WZL-300 tensile (Zibo Kunwei Economic and Trade
Co., Ltd., China). Burst strengths were measured according to TAPPI
T414 using a DRK 109 Micro-computer Bursting Tester (Jinan Drick
Instruments Co., Ltd., China). Whiteness were measured using a
YQ-Z-48A Whiteness meter (Hangzhou Qingtong Boke Automation
Technology Co., Ltd., China). The surface textures of the sized and
unsized paper were characterized by a FEI QUANTA200 SEM (FEI
Co., America).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. SBSDE characterization
The number-averaged molecular weight (Mn) of SBSDE was
17,990 g/mol; Mw was 22,500 g/mol; the PDI (Mw/Mn) value was
1.155. The structure of SBSDE was characterized by FTIR spec-
troscopy and 1 H NMR. As shown in Fig. 1, bands at 3060 cm−1 and
3030 cm−1 were due to the benzene ring. Bands near 2930 cm−1
and 2870 cm−1 resulted from the stretching modes of the CH3
and CH2 . Bands at 1460 cm−1 and 1570 cm−1 were due to C C
in-plane stretching of styrene ring, which showed the existence of
St. The very strong signal band at 1730 cm−1 was detected cor-
responding to C O stretching. 1170 cm−1 was attributed to the
(C O) stretching mode, which showed the existence of BA and
SMA. 762 cm−1 and 1240 cm−1 were due to C N+ (CH3 )3 stretch-
ing vibration, indicating that the tertiary nitrogen atoms were
converted to the quaternary ammonium moiety. 930 cm−1 and
950 cm−1 were due to the stretching and ring vibration of the epoxy
moiety, respectively. Compositions and the quantitative reaction of
cationic sub-units could also be confirmed by measuring the area
 X. Yan et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16 13

CH3 O CH3
CH=CH2
m CH2 C C O CH2CH2 N CH3 +n + x CH2=CH COOC4H9

CH3

CH CH2 CH2 CH CH2 C

m
x
n
C O C O CH3

O
O CH2 CH2 N
C4H9
CH3
CH3 CH3

R' C CH2 + m CH2 CH CH2Cl R' C CH2 mCl¯

m m
C O O C O

O CH3 O CH3
C2H4 N CH3
C2H4 N CH2 CH CH2

CH3 O

Scheme 1. The synthesis routs and chemical structure of SBSDE.

N CH 2

of the following peaks: 3.71–3.72 ppm ( C ), 4.72 ppm

O

R C O CH2

HC CH

( N ), and 2.063–2.131 ppm ( O ) in 1 H NMR

(Fig. 2).
The surface tensions of aqueous solutions of SBSDE were plot-
ted in Fig. 3. In the lower [SBSDE] region (<3.16 × 10−4 mol/L), the
surface tension values were decreased steeply with the increase
of SBSDE concentration, whereas the slope in the surface ten-
sion against log C became gradual when the SBSDE concentration
was increased above 3.16 × 10−4 mol/L. The critical micelle concen-
tration of SBSDE was approximately 2.97 × 10−4 mol/L. The value
was smaller than that of corresponding conventional cationic sur-
factants (hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) was
9.7 × 10−4 mol/L at 25 ◦ C) [15]. The surface tension at CMC was
42.6 mN/m. These measurements confirmed that SBSDE was a 1
Fig. 2. H NMR spectrum of SBSDE.
potential candidate for emulsion polymerization.

100

90
Surface tension (mN/m)

80

70

60

50

40

30
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
4000 35 00 300 0 250 0 2000 15 00 100 0 500 LogC (mol/L)
-1
Wavenumber (cm )
Fig. 3. Plots of surface tension against the logarithm of concentration (mol/L) for
the determination of critical micelle concentration of SBSDE.
Fig. 1. FTIR spectrum of SBSDE.
14 X. Yan et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16

50
a 160 b
40

Zeta potential (mv)

120

Z-Average (nm)
30

80
20

40
10

0 0
AIBA AIBN APS FeSO4+H2O2 AIBA AIBN APS FeSO4+H 2O2

Fig. 4. Zeta potential (a) and diameters (b) of latex particles were observed in various initiator systems. Latex particles were synthesized with different types of initiators at
the given St to BA ratio of 19.45:16.54, and 0.18 g of the initiator.

3.2. Latex characterization and sizing properties 400 AIBA

APS
SBSDE has quaternary ammonium and epoxy functional groups. AIBN
The end groups of quaternary ammonium on the particle sur- 300 FeSO4+H2O2
face increased electrostatic repulsion and surface-charge densities
of the particle, which led to stable latexes. Epoxy groups offered
excellent corrosion and solvent resistance, adhesion, and versatility
200
in crosslinking (curing) mechanisms [16–18]. Three-dimensional
crosslinked structures of latexes were due to the fact that epoxy
groups could crosslink with paper fibers. This crosslinking reaction
100
led to the formation of a strong network film on the surface of sized
paper in which individual polymer chains were connected through
stable chemical bonds and resulted in a significant improvement in
0
surface properties. WWhiteness
hiteness(%) Cobb(g/?Surface
Cobb ) streng
Surface thBurst
(cm/s)
strength strength
Burst Tensile
(KPa)Tensile
strenth strengthstrength
(KN/m)
2
(%) (g/m ) (cm/s) (KPa) (KN/m)
3.2.1. Influence of initiator type
Fig. 5. Influence of initiator type on surface properties of the sized paper.
The film-forming properties of latexes depended on the particle
morphologies and surface properties. In emulsion polymerization,
the initiator end groups can cause some special effects on particle content, viscosities of latex increased gradually. This was presum-
morphology [19]. Many important properties of polymer disper- ably due to the high number of crosslinking points in the latex
sions that may influence their end use depended on the kind of with high content of SBSDE. With increasing SBSDE content, the
initiators [20]. conversion also increased. When SBSDE content exceeded 8.5%,
In order to examine the role of the initiator on latex characteris- no significant increase of the conversion was observed. Results
tics, emulsion polymerizations were carried out by using different from DLS showed that as the content of SBSDE increased, the PDI
types of initiators. The latexes were evaluated with respect to zeta values and particle size decreased gradually. They reached the low-
potential and average particle size. The zeta potential values were est value when SBSDE content was 8.5%, then increased slightly
high in all samples, ranged from 20.2 to 39.1 mV (Fig. 4a). The z- (Table 1). These results were similar to the findings of Wang [23].
average values, ranged from 41.74 to 154.8 nm, were very small for The latex with small particles and narrow particle size distribu-
all initiator systems (Fig. 4b). These suggested that the coalescence tion were obtained when the SBSDE contents were in the range of
process gave higher surface charge to each particle. Comparing with 8–9.5%. When SBSDE content was further increased, the average
latex particles obtained from AIBA, APS, and FeSO4 + H2 O2 systems, particle size and the PDI value were gradually increased. Because
the latex particles from AIBN system have the smallest diameter excessive surfactant would result in obvious secondary nucleation
and highest zeta potential. (micellar nucleation) [24], which led to a great increase of the PDI
Surface properties of the paper sized with latexes were shown and size of the latex particles. The representative small particle size
in Fig. 5. Comparing with AIBA, APS, and FeSO4 + H2 O2 systems and narrow size distribution (8.5% SBSDE) were shown in Fig. 6.
(Fig. 5), the excellent properties of sized paper were obtained from The surface properties of the paper treated with series of latexes
AIBN system: the Cobb value was 58.25 g/m2 ; burst strength was were compiled in Table 2. As the content of SBSDE increased, the
386 kPa; surface strength was 177 cm/s; and tensile strength was
58.58 kN/m. All papers showed nearly the same whiteness regard- Table 1
less of the initiator used in the systems. Characteristics of the latexes with varying SBSDE contents.

SBSDE Conversion Z-average PDI Viscosity

(%) (%) (nm) (mPa s)
3.2.2. Influence of SBSDE content
The stabilization of latex particles was sensitive to the sur- 6 85.34 118 0.856 2
face conditions [21,22]. SBSDE would affect the particle size, the 7.5 93 88 0.759 3
8 93.22 45.3 0.398 4
zeta potential of cationic latexes, and hence affected properties of 8.5 97.62 41.74 0.148 8
latex-treated paper. The polymeric and colloidal characteristics of 9 97.67 41.77 0.23 10
the latexes synthesized by using different contents of SBSDE were 9.5 97.22 44.57 0.339 15
shown in Table 1. All latexes exhibited low viscosity (<25 mPa s) 10 97.62 58.34 0.539 17
11 97.02 65.89 0.689 20
within experimental SBSDE contents range. With increasing SBSDE
 X. Yan et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16 15

Table 2
Surface properties of sized paper as a function of the SBSDE content.

SBSDE Cobb Whiteness Tensile strength Surface strength Burst strength

(%) (g/m2 ) (%) (kN/m) (cm/s) (kPa)

6 72.93 ± 1.5 88.54 ± 2.5 45.29 ± 0.1 206 ± 10.5 141 ± 3.3
6.5 70.58 ± 0.8 88.04 ± 0.2 49.04 ± 0.5 250 ± 11.3 150 ± 2.1
7 68.78 ± 0.1 88.75 ± 0.5 52.81 ± 1.5 272 ± 8.5 159 ± 3.4
7.5 66.47 ± 1.1 88.57 ± 3.5 55.62 ± 0.7 295 ± 3.5 165 ± 1.8
8 63.02 ± 1.2 88.55 ± 1.6 60.05 ± 2.1 341 ± 11.7 170 ± 3.2
8.5 58.25 ± 0.5 88.21 ± 0.8 69.58 ± 2.3 386 ± 15.8 195 ± 8.4
9 70.36 ± 0.7 88.57 ± 0.5 59.03 ± 2.8 386 ± 9.5 178 ± 5.5
9.5 76.72 ± 2.7 88.35 ± 0.1 59.10 ± 0.7 386 ± 13.5 179 ± 7.5

Table 3
Surface properties of sized paper as a function of the composition ratios of BA and St.

m(BA)/m(St) Cobb Surface strength Whiteness Burst strength Tensile strength

(g/m2 ) (cm/s) (%) (kPa) (kN/m)

0.125 73.77 ± 1.5 175 ± 15.5 88.54 ± 0.5 156 ± 2.5 53.43 ± 0.2
0.19 71.75 ± 0.8 206 ± 15.7 88.57 ± 1.5 165 ± 25.5 54.18 ± 0.1
0.24 69.41 ± 0.5 228 ± 11.5 88.13 ± 2.5 169 ± 25.5 55.03 ± 0.5
0.31 67.15 ± 1.2 250 ± 15.5 88.55 ± 2.3 173 ± 25.5 57.05 ± 0.5
0.33 65.58 ± 1.0 272 ± 10.5 87.63 ± 2 176 ± 25.5 57.62 ± 0.1
0.41 63.04 ± 0.5 295 ± 12.5 88.75 ± 0.8 179 ± 25.5 58.91 ± 1.0
0.44 61.35 ± 1.5 295 ± 18.5 88.04 ± 1.3 184 ± 25.5 60.24 ± 0.7
0.52 60.11 ± 0.8 318 ± 11.5 88.54 ± 0.7 189 ± 25.5 65.60 ± 1.5
0.85 58.25 ± 0.5 386 ± 25.5 88.21 ± 0.8 195 ± 8.4 69.58 ± 2.3
0.94 63.05 ± 2.3 295 ± 14.5 89.36 ± 1.7 183 ± 25.5 61.36 ± 0.5
1.05 69.85 ± 1.5 275 ± 20.5 89.26 ± 1.1 170 ± 25.5 58.09 ± 1.8
1.06 78.21 ± 2.2 141 ± 8.5 87.72 ± 0.5 164 ± 25.5 57.72 ± 2.5

Cobb values decreased gradually. It reached the lowest value of
58.25, when SBSDE content was 8.5%. Further increasing the con-
tent of SBSDE, the Cobb values would increase slightly (Table 2).
The decrease of Cobb values can be explained as follows: firstly,
the high content of SBSDE used for producing latex with small
particle size also brought in a large amount of positive charges,
which improved the polymer compatibility with paper fiber. Sec-
ondly, latexes with smaller particle size could film better on the
fiber surface [25]. Finally, the high content of SBSDE also increased
the cross-linking interaction occurring in film and fiber. However,
as the SBSDE content was further increased, the water resistance
decreased resulting in the increase of Cobb values. This may be
caused by the hydrophilic quaternary ammonium groups in the
structure of SBSDE. As the content of SBSDE increased from 6 to
8.5%, tensile strength, surface strength, and burst strength of paper
gradually increased. When the SBSDE content was above 8.5%, ten-
sile strength and burst strength increased slightly, while surface
20
Size Distribution by Intensity
15
Intensity (%)
strength kept invariant. The content of SBSDE had a little effect on
whiteness.
3.2.3. Effect of monomer composition
SBSDE was used in emulsion polymerization with different
ratios of BA and St. The characteristics of their resulting paper prop-
erties were listed in Table 3. As the ratio of BA/St was raised from
0.125 to 0.85, the Cobb values of paper decreased, while surface
strength, burst strength, and tensile strength increased. That may
be explained as follows: the bond strength depended on the adhe-
sive and cohesive strength of the cationic systems, which mainly
depended upon the monomer composition in the final latexes [26].
BA being soft and tacky in nature provided the required cohe-
sive strength to the system. When the content of BA was very
low, the cohesive strength was weak and the repulsion was too
high, resulting in the weak interaction between latex and fiber. The
film was not evenly formed on the wholly fiber surface and hence
susceptible to water penetration. When the concentration of BA
was increased in the latex, the latex compatibility with paper fiber
was improved, which prevented water penetrate into paper fiber
through cross-linking films. The superior properties of sized paper
were detected when the ratio of BA/St was 0.85. When BA/St ratio
was further increased, the paper properties decreased. The main
reason was that the stiffness decreased simultaneously with the
further increase of BA.

In order to estimate the effects of sizing agents on surface prop-

10 erties of paper, comparative studies were made on the synthesized
latex-treated and RM-treated paper, and the results were summa-
rized in Table 4. The surface properties (water resistance, surface
5 strength, burst strength, tensile strength, whiteness) of treated
paper improved significantly compared with non-treated paper. In
our study, tensile strength, burst strength, and whiteness of the
latex-treated paper were close to the RM-treated paper. However,
0 latex-treated paper showed better water resistance (lower Cobb
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
value) and higher surface strength. It may be due to the epoxy
Particle size (nm)
groups in the latex, which caused films to become stronger, better
Fig. 6. Particle size distribution of the latex synthesized with 8.5% SBSDE. water resistant, and higher surface strength.
16 X. Yan et al. / Progress in Organic Coatings 76 (2013) 11–16
Table 4
Effects of the sizing agents on surface properties of paper.
Base papers Cobb Surface strength
(g/m2 ) (cm/s)
Non-treated 73.22 ± 1.5 127 ± 15.3
Latex-treated 58.25 ± 1.2 386 ± 25.5
RM-treated 68.03 ± 2 295 ± 13.2
Fig. 7. Scanning electron micrographs of the surface of the unsized base paper (a) and latex-sized paper (b).
3.3. SEM images of sized paper
The surface morphologies of the sized paper were investigated
by SEM. Fibers in the unsized paper appeared to have rough surfaces
(Fig. 7a). However, the paper fibers sized with cationic latex were
uniformly covered by latex membrane (Fig. 7b), which improved
the surface properties of the paper.
4. Conclusions
Series of fiber cross-linking cationic latexes were synthesized
by regulating the SBSDE content, initiator type or the BA/St ratio
and further used in paper sizing. The formed film of latex on the
surfaces of the sized paper effectively improved the surface prop-
erties of paper. It was demonstrated that the sizing effect strongly
depended on the SBSDE content, initiator type, and the ratio of
BA/St. Water resistance, tensile strength, and burst strength as well
as surface strength of paper sized with the synthesized latex, could
be improved with the certain amount of SBSDE, or appropriate ratio
of BA/St. The superior surface sizing agent was obtained by using
AIBN as the initiator, when the concentration of SBSDE was 8.5%
and the BA/St composition ratio was 0.85.
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