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Abstract

There is described a process for preparing a pressure sensitive adhesive having enhanced resistance to water-whitening comprising the steps of: (a) forming a mixture in water of (i) an effective initial amount of a polymerization initiator which produces radicals by a thermal decomposition to form a mixture and optional further surfactant; (ii) an effective amount of a water-dispersible polymerizable surfactant with a terminal allyl amine moiety; polyoxyalkylene-1-(allyloxymethyl) alkyl ether sulfate salt(s) and/or mixtures thereof, (b) forming a polymerizable aqueous pre-emulsion comprising (i) a hydrophobic monomer mixture comprising at least one alkyl (metha)acrylate ester of an C.sub.1-4alcohol and up to about 30% by weight of the mixture of at least one styrenic monomer, (ii) at least about 1% of the total weight of (i) to (iii) of one or more hydrophilic monomer(s), (iii) at least about 5% of the total weight of (i) to (iii) of at least one partially hydrophilic monomer(s) selected from N-vinyl pyrrolidone; alkyl (metha)acrylate esters of methanol or ethanol; and/or mixtures thereof, the pre-emulsion further comprising effective amounts of the surfactant (c) contacting the pre-emulsion with the water mixture; (d) continuously adding said pre-emulsion to said mixture to polymerize said pre-emulsion to form a latex emulsion, and optionally adding further polymerization initiator during the polymerization of said pre-emulsion; and (e) optionally adjusting the pH of said latex emulsion with a suitable base to a pH 5 of about 6.5 to about 9.

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