Eco-friendly Water Repellent Polymers for Superhydrophobic Compositionsin Industrial Applications

Abstract

Polyurethane emerged as an extraordinary class of polymer having outstanding mechanical strength, toughness and durability etc. PU coatings can be found as a top coat on many different substrates such as metals, wood, leathers, textile, etc. But it has been observed that various polar groups are present in the polyurethane chemical structure. These polar groups provide hydrophilic character to the PU coatings and decrease their hydrophobicity. This study focuses on synthesizing an eco-friendly water repellent polymer emulsion that is mostly made up of base monomers, including n-butyl acrylate, styrene, DMC (dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate ammonium chloride) and acrylic acid. The semi-batch emulsion polymerization procedure was utilized in an attempt to develop a stable latex for further study of the latex system. The main objective was to generate a latex with high stability and little coagulum content that would be able to impart hydrophobic properties to the Polyurethane polymer. The emulsion stability was investigated by using two different surfactant Disponil FES77 and Nonylphenol ethoxylate and their effect was studied. Then the optimized formulation of emulsions was investigated by different characterization techniques ZETA potential analysis, FTIR, TGA, SEM, pH and Conductivity test to examine particle stability, thermal stability, morphology, and ionic content of emulsions ENS10 (15%) and E2NS10 (20%). After the successful formation of the emulsion, a series of samples prepared by combining different % compositions of the emulsion with polyurethane resin in order to investigate the hydrophobic impact. The compositions were modified by including emulsion at varying percentages of 0%, 1%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 20% by weight. After proper drying of samples these samples were placed under hot press make sheets to examine their water repellence behavior