Influence of curing temperature on quality of polystyrene shells

During the fabrication process of polystyrene (PS) shells by emulsion microencapsulation method, solidification is a critical stage that influences the sphericity and wall thickness uniformity. The diameter and wall thickness of compound droplets prepared by the droplet generator were (85010) m and (25025) m respectively. To study the effects of curing temperature on the sphericity and wall thickness uniformity, the curing temperature was set at 25 ℃, 45 ℃ and 65 ℃. The experimental results show that lower temperature improves the sphericity and wall thickness uniformity due to higher interfacial tension and slower velocity of emulsion solidification. When the curing temperature was 25 ℃, the batch yield of PS shells with difference between the maximum and minimum radii less than 2 m is 90%, and with the maximum deviation of wall thickness less than 2 m is 40%, obviously better than that prepared at 45 ℃ and 65 ℃.