Development of Novel Polymers prepared by vinyl acetate and N-hydroxymethyl acrylamide

To improve the chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), N-hydroxymethyl acrylamide (NMA) was used to polymerize with vinyl acetate (VAc). During the emulsion polymerization of VAc using polyvinyl alcohol as protective colloid and ammonium persulfate as initiator, PVAc-NMA was prepared under the conventional conditions in laboratory. In the polymers, larger PVAc-NMA particles and other smaller NMA-NMA particles randomly dispersed together. Their dispersion was good. PVAc-NMA was a pseudo-plastic non-Newtonian fluid, also possessed the normal stress effect (or Weissenberg effect), the pole-climbing phenomenon. With the change of different synthesis processes and the increase in NMA content in the synthesis system, the molecular weight of PVAc-NMA increased. NMA could lower the glass transition temperature of PVAc, and then improved PVAc’s low temperature resistance, so PVAc-NMA could be applied in more harsh or much lower temperature conditions. The static tensile of PVAc-NMA was better. PVAc and PVAc-NMA all had the cold crystallization. The pyrolysis of PVAc and PVAc-NMA was similar. It was found to consist of eight phases. NMA had no obvious effect on the pyrolysis temperature but mainly delayed the thermal degradation process.