Abstract: In this paper, we discussed the drying behavior of monodispersed polystyrene latex at high temperature with particular attention to the morphological evolution during film formation process. At the beginning of the water evaporation, a skin film with some defects was formed at latex/air interface, water evaporated thereby in a constant rate. During this stage, a drying front advanced from the top film towards the bulk dispersion. Afte Rwards, most water was lost, and water evaporation rate was less than that of the initial stage. In this case, the whole system became immobile, and another drying front developed from the interior region outside the system. Two distinct boundaries between completely dried region and wet region corresponding to the opposite directions of the second drying front were found if the film peeled from the container bottom surface. Besides, some particular morphologies were found in the completely dried region, which was likely related to preferable coalescence among the particles induced by capillary force due to water evaporation.

Key words: Monodispersed polystyrene latex, Film formation, Morphology