Abstract
A study was made of the effect of cetyl alcohol on the disperse composition of microemulsions formed by diluting concentrated toluene–surfactant–water systems with water until a ratio of hydrocarbon to aqueous phase of 1:50 is reached. It was shown that the microemulsion formed is characterised by a bimodal particle size distribution. With cetyl alcohol concentrations in the toluene-surfactant-water system of 2–10 mol%, the system contains particles of 600–1000 nm size, and with a concentration of 25–28 mol% it contains particles of 6–25 nm size. The initiation of polymerisation of styrene in microemulsions leads to the formation of polystyrene latexes with a bimodal particle size distribution. No significant effect of cetyl alcohol on the molecular weight and molecular weight distribution of the polymers was observed.
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