ON THE PREPARATION OF POLYACRYLIC BINDER via MINI-EMULSION POLYMERIZATION FOR LEATHER PERFORMANCE COATINGS

Abstract

A partially crosslinked polyacrylic copolymer latex composed of butyl acrylate (BA), methyl methacrylate (MMA), methacrylic acid (MAA) and 1,4 butanediol dimethacrylate (BDMA) was synthesized via mini-emulsion polymerization technique. The obtained latex had good electrostatic stability with low average particle size (83 nm) and narrow size distributions (PDI= 0.12). The FTIR and DSC analysis verified the success of the copolymer’s synthesis. The latex was further used as a base coat binder for the coating of shoe upper leathers in a leather finishing application. The performed tests on finished leather showed good dry/wet rubbing performance of the coating as well as excellent flexing endurance. The synthesized latex seemed to be a good candidate as performance binder for leather finishing applications.