J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 2989-3000, 2000

FABRICE DOMINGUES DOS SANTOS,' PASCALE FABRE,'* XAVIER DRUJON; GILLES MEUNIER,²

LUDWIK LEIBLER'

1, UMR 167, CNRS-Elf Atochem, 95 Rue Danton, 92303 Levallois Perret, France

2 Elf Atochem, Groupement de Recherche de Lacq, BP 34 64170 Lacq, France

Received 19 May 2000; revised 25 August 2000; accepted 30 August 2000

Published online 13 October 2000

ABSTRACT: Structured latexes provide a promising route to hard coatings without the use of coalescing aids. We studied the thermomechanical properties of films from structured sort-core/hard-!1hell hydrophobic latexes. We found that the mechanical properties of these films were closely related to their very particular organization. When the rigid phase was continuous, whatever its volume fraction, the films exhibited a high elastic modulus. An analysis of the viscoelastic properties of the films provided a good method for obtaining information about the interphase between the hard shell and sort core of the latex particles. By varying the film structure through annealing or the particle composition (corelshell ratio, core crosslinking, etc.), we were able to tune the mechanical properties of the films. @ 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 2989-3000, 2000

Keywords: latex films; core-shell; thermomechanical properties; interphase; structure