Improving the thermal properties of pigmented acrylic resins
In a study, the effect of silica aerogel as thermal barrier additive for two different types of acrylic resins was investigated.
The first category of acrylic resins contained methyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, and acrylic acid monomers. The second composition had an additional monomer named acrylamide (AAm). The acrylic resins were synthesised through emulsion polymerisation.
AAm increases monomer conversion
The kinetic behaviour of polymerisation reaction was investigated. The results showed that the presence of the AAm monomer increased the monomer conversion (90% in the first 10 min) and the rate of polymerisation. Furthermore, the latexes were characterised by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) Fourier Transform Infrared, and differential scanning calorimeter analysis.
Decreased heat loss of the painted wall
To study the effect of silica aerogel as thermal barrier additive for acrylic resins, samples were mixed with silica aerogel using sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactant. In the next step, the resins were used to make white acrylic-based paints. The heat transfer measurements revealed that the thermal insulation properties were not affected by the composition of the resin. On the other hand, the use of AAm monomer increased the paint adhesion properties and helped the resin to receive more aerogel (up to 5 wt %) which in turn decreased the heat loss of the painted wall.
The study is published in: Applied Polymer Science.
