Morphology and mechanical behaviour of epoxy networks modified with semicrystalline planar micelles of PE-b-PEO

JULIETA PUIG; WALTER F. SCHROEDER; LAURA A. FASCE; ILEANA A. ZUCCHI

Cancún

Simposio; XV Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros - SLAP 2016; 2016

Sociedad Polimérica de México (SPM)

Block copolymers (BCP) have been shown to be highly effective at improving epoxy mechanical properties. The BCP modifiers have minimal impact on the glass transition temperature and the modulus and may provide a dramatic increase in the fracture resistance. Recently, we reported a strategy based on crystallization-driven self-assembly to generate complex morphologies in an epoxy matrix. We showed that depending on the cure temperature and the initial amount of BCP (PE-b-PEO) dispersed in the epoxy resin, a variety of nanostructures with semicrystalline core could be generated, such as a dispersion of disk-like micelles, a concentrated dispersion of platelets, and long nanoribbons partially stacked and oriented in space. The way in which these structures affect small and large deformation properties as well as fracture behavior of the modified epoxy networks is investigated.