Connectivity dependence of gelation and elasticity in AB-type polymerization: an experimental comparison of the dynamic process and stoichiometrically imbalanced mixing

To control various physical properties of polymer gels, it is important to control the connection probability between functional groups of network structures (connectivity). In this study, we compare two methodologies tuning the connectivity in AB-type polymerization: one is stopping the reaction in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2019, Vol.15 (25), p.517-525
Main Authors: Yoshikawa, Yuki, Sakumichi, Naoyuki, Chung, Ung-il, Sakai, Takamasa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Connectivity
Dependence
Functional groups
Gelation
Gels
Mechanical properties
Modulus of elasticity
Parameter estimation
Physical properties
Polymer gels
Polymerization
Prepolymers
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Summary:To control various physical properties of polymer gels, it is important to control the connection probability between functional groups of network structures (connectivity). In this study, we compare two methodologies tuning the connectivity in AB-type polymerization: one is stopping the reaction intentionally at a certain conversion, and the other is mixing two prepolymers in a stoichiometrically imbalanced ratio. By experimentally examining the relationships between elastic modulus and connectivity, we find that the relationships are almost the same for these two methodologies. However, the critical connectivity for gelation is different. These results are well reproduced by a kind of phantom network model whose structural parameters are estimated by using a mean-field approximation. Comparison of two methodologies tuning the connectivity of AB-type polymerization shows the applicability of mean-field approximation.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/c9sm00696f