Transparent multiphasic polystyrene/epoxy blends

Blends of polystyrene (PS) with an epoxy monomer (DGEBA) and a tertiary amine (BDMA), were initially miscible at 120°C but phase‐separated at very low conversions in the course of polymerization. Although there was a significant difference between the refractive indices of polystyrene and the DGEBA/...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hoppe, Cristina Elena, Galante, Maria Jose, Oyanguren, Patricia Angelica, Williams, Roberto Juan Jose, Girard Reydet, E., Pascault, J.P.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2002
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/78568
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/78568
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Epoxy
Polystyrene
Blends
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.4
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Blends of polystyrene (PS) with an epoxy monomer (DGEBA) and a tertiary amine (BDMA), were initially miscible at 120°C but phase‐separated at very low conversions in the course of polymerization. Although there was a significant difference between the refractive indices of polystyrene and the DGEBA/BDMA solution, the refractive index of the epoxy network increased in the course of polymerization, attaining a value close to that of PS at complete conversion. A sharp decrease of the light transmittance was observed at the cloud‐point, observed at very low conversions. However, the continuous increase of the refractive index of the epoxy phase with conversion produced an approximate matching of both refractive indices, leading to transparent materials at complete conversion. Morphologies generated by reaction‐induced phase separation depended on the molar mass distribution of polystyrene and its mass fraction in the blend. For a PS with a high value of the mass‐average molar mass (Mw), it was possible to generate a dispersion of PS particles in the epoxy matrix (blends containing 5 wt% PS), phase‐inverted morphologies (blends containing 15 wt% PS) and double‐phase morphologies (blends with 10 wt% PS). Therefore, PS/DGEBA/BDMA blends could be used to obtain transparent epoxy coatings toughened by polystyrene particles or transparent polystyrene parts reinforced by a dispersion of epoxy particles.