Nanostructures and properties of blends of homopolymer and elastomeric block copolymer nanoparticles were studied focusing on the effect of morphology and the viscoelastic properties on blends. The cylindrical and lamellar morphology of PS-b-PI copolymer was employed to generate the morphology of elastomeric nanoparticles such as nanofiber and nanosheet. The particles were synthesized using cold vulcanization process. The vulcanization process using sulfur monochloride (S2Cl2) was used to preserve the morphologies. The crosslinking density of block copolymer was controlled by exposure time of crosslinking agent in the chamber. The blend samples for DMA and rheometer were prepared using solvent casting process. The diameter and thickness of nanofiber and nanosheet obtained by the process were ~40 nm and ~70 nm, respectively. The rheological and dynamic mechanical properties of the blends of polystyrene (PS) and elastomeric nanoparticles were studied in terms of morphology and crosslinking density. The effect of core PI size also investigated and discussed. Based on these viscoelastic results, the theoretical percolation threshold was calculated and compared with experimental results. It is demonstrated that block copolymer is a facile method to generate elastomeric nanoparticles using cold vulcanization and viscoelastic properties can be tuned with addition of nanoparticles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/34769 |
| Date | 23 June 2010 |
| Creators | Ma, Sungwon |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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