I am new to the board. I have seen several people who seem to know quite a bit about the chemical composition of things who get prietty active in discussions. I was wondering if maybe one of you could please tell me exactly what acrylic mediums were composed of? I think that it is very wrong that an artist can know thier oil paints sizings and media intimately, but just have to take acrylic paints, media, and grounds on the manufacturer's word that they are durable. How do we know they are durable? What is in the binder they use for thier pigments? What do they put in that acrylic medium goop, anyhow?
I am hoping that someone out there can help me to feel more comfortable about acrylic paints which I have never been happy using because of this ignorance issue I have not been able to resolve.
For some reason I don't exactly trust the manufacturers.
I have run into some abstracts in conservation journals that discuss some disturbing thigs about acrylics. Let me just quote:

Films of Liquitex gloss medium, an acrylic dispersion polymer product, have been reported to become turbid slowly due to the formation of microscopic crystalline inclusions...

So, I am concerned. BEsides, if I knew what the stuff was made of, maybe I could mad-scientist my wat to a less expensive medium that I was comfortably knowledgeable of for when I do paint in acrylics.

Any help?