RELATIONSHIP OF COMPOSITIONAL HOMOGENEITY IN SYNTHETIC SILVER HALIDE PEPTIZERS TO SILVER HALIDE GRAIN MORPHOLOGY.

The compositional homogeneity of synthetic polymers used as silver halide peptizers was studied. Unit ratios were determined for a sequence of samples of different degrees of conversion during the polymerization of selected peptizers. The nature and extent of the compositional variations observed during each polymerization were related to the effectiveness of the polymer as a silver halide peptizer. There was strong correlation between compositional homogeneity and silver halide grain morphology. Silver halide grain morphologies obtained with peptizers which showed poor compositional homogeneity were improved by synthesizing the peptizers by programmed addition or continuous polymerization.