Preparation of PS-PVA Double Layer Microspheres Using Heated Drop-Tower Technique

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) capsule layer, as a gas barrier, was developed for the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) program. The present research concerns in the study on fabrication of PS microsphere coated by PVA using drop-tower technique. The results show that the PS-PVA microsphere can be prepared under the conditions of 5% PVA solution at 473-523 K. The prepared PS-PVA microspheres with 250 to 550 μm in diameter have a PVA coating of 1.0 to 2.4 μm in thickness, and the surface finish is 3-10 nm, while the gas-barrier property is dissatisfactory.