Issue 23, 2022

Tuneable phase behaviour and glass transition via polymerization-induced phase separation in crosslinked step-growth polymers

Abstract

Once limited to chain-growth polymerizations, fine control over polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) has recently been demonstrated in rubber-toughened thermoset materials formed through step-growth polymerizations. The domain length scales of these thermoset materials can be elegantly tuned by utilizing a binary mixture of curing agents (CAs) that individually yield disparate morphologies. Importantly, varying the composition of the binary mixture affects characteristics of the materials such as glass transition temperature and tensile behavior. Here, we establish a full phase diagram of PIPS in a rubber-toughened epoxy system tuned by a binary CA mixture to provide a robust framework of phase behaviour. X-Ray scattering in situ and post-PIPS is employed to elucidate the PIPS mechanism whereby an initial polymerization-induced compositional fluctuation causes nanoscale phase separation of rubber and epoxy components prior to local chain crosslinking and potential macrophase separation. We further demonstrate the universality of this approach by alternatively employing binary epoxy or binary rubber mixtures to achieve broad variations in morphology and glass transitions.

Graphical abstract: Tuneable phase behaviour and glass transition via polymerization-induced phase separation in crosslinked step-growth polymers

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Apr 2022
Accepted
26 May 2022
First published
06 Jun 2022

Soft Matter, 2022,18, 4455-4463

Author version available

Tuneable phase behaviour and glass transition via polymerization-induced phase separation in crosslinked step-growth polymers

S. C. Leguizamon, J. Ahn, S. Lee and B. H. Jones, Soft Matter, 2022, 18, 4455 DOI: 10.1039/D2SM00485B

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