Adsorption of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate on Natural Rubber Latex Particles and Determination of Specific Surface Area of the Particles

Abstract

Abstract Soap titration of polymer latex is a widely used method for the determination of the specific surface area and particle size in synthetic latices. The method involves the titration of a latex of known polymer and soap content with a standard soap solution until the critical micelle concentration (CMC) is reached. At this concentration, saturation adsorption of the soap to form a monolayer on the particle surface occurs. From a knowledge of the amount and kind of soap adsorbed and the effective molecular area of the soap on the surface, the specific surface area and average diameter of the particles can be calculated. The effective molecular area of soap at saturation adsorption on polymer particle surface has been determined by comparing adsorption data with particle size data obtained by electron microscopy. Little information is available on the adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on NR latex particles. In ammoniated latex, these particles are covered by a complex mixture of proteins, fatty acid soaps, and lipids, the composition and concentration of which are not known accurately. Cockbain modified the soap titration method of determining particle sizes in synthetic latices and claimed that it was applicable to NR latices. In this method SDS was titrated to the latex adjusted to pH 6 ± 0.2. It was assumed that at this pH the interfacial activity of SDS was high while that of the proteins and fatty acid soaps initially present on the latex particles was comparatively low. Under these conditions the SDS would displace almost all the proteins and fatty acid soaps on the particles when sufficient SDS has been added to form micelles in the aqueous phase. The specific surface area was calculated from the SDS adsorption after assuming the molecular adsorption area of SDS to be 60 A˚. No account was taken of the effect of the poly(vinyl alcohol) creaming agent on adsorption. Sekhar found that Cockbain's method of soap titration was temperature dependent. Van den Tempel has shown that electron microscopy cannot yield accurate specific surface area of NR latex particles because of the heterogeneous particle size distribution inherent in unconcentrated latex.