Abstract:The amphiphilic water-soluble polymer was prepared from acrylamide, acrylic acid and styrene via self-emulsification microemulsion method. It can avoid back treatment of an excess of low-molecular weight emulsifier in comparison with the conventional microemulsion polymerization. In addition, the mechanism of self-emulsified microemulsion polymerization was explored. FTIR, 1HNMR results showed that the copolymerization of acrylamide (AM) with acrylic acid (AA) and styrene (St) was carried out. The DSC result showed that the copolymer had a block structure. The surface tension tester and numerical viscosity test results showed that when the monomer ratio of m(AM):m(AA):m(St) is 87.5:10:2.5, the surface activity and viscosity of the copolymer solution were 26.113 mN/m and 1260 mPa·s, respectively. Furthermore, the aggregation state of molecular chains in the copolymer solution was explained in the presence of different levels of hydrophobic monomers.