Improving the toughness of epoxy with a reactive tetrablock copolymer containing maleic anhydride. Issue 1 (9th September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: He, Ren; Zhan, Xiaoli; Zhang, Qinghua; Chen, Fengqiu
• Is Part Of: Journal of applied polymer science. Volume 133:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2015-09-09
• Subjects: Polymers -- Periodicals; Polymerization -- Periodicals; 668.9
• DOI: 10.1002/app.42826
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8995

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>Reactive block copolymers (BCPs) provide a unique means for toughening epoxy thermosets because covalent linkages provide opportunities for greater improvement in the fracture toughness (<italic>K_IC</italic>). In this study, a tailored reactive tetrablock copolymer, poly[styrene‐<italic>alt</italic>‐(maleic anhydride)]‐<italic>block</italic>‐polystyrene‐<italic>block</italic>‐poly(<italic>n</italic>‐butyl acrylate)‐<italic>block</italic>‐polystyrene, was incorporated into a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A based epoxy resin. The results demonstrate the advantage of reactive BCP in finely tuning and controlling the structure of epoxy blends, even with 95 wt % epoxy‐immiscible triblocks. The size of the dispersed phase was efficiently reduced to submicrometer level. The mechanical properties, such as <italic>K_IC, </italic> of these cured blends were investigated. The addition of 10 wt % reactive BCP into the epoxy resins led to considerable improvements in the toughness, imparting nearly a 70% increase in <italic>K_IC</italic>. The designed reactive tetrablock copolymer opened good prospects because of its potential novel applications in toughening modification of engineering polymer composites. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. <bold>2016</bold>, <italic>132</italic>, 42826.</p> </abstract>