FLUORINATED NETWORKS DYNAMICS STUDIED BY MEANS OF BROADBAND DIELECTRIC SPECTROSCOPY

ALEJANDRO MICCIO; JON OTEGUI; GUSTAVO SCHWARTZ; ELISABETH PENOFF; P.E. MONTEMARTINI; P.A. OYANGUREN

EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014

0014-3057

Partially fluorinated polymers are high tech materials which impart attractive properties to the surfaces and interfaces, such as low friction, hydro and oleophobicity, self-cleaning and antifouling, among others. On the other hand, epoxy resins are one of the most extensively used polymers in a wide range of applications due to their versatility. Turbine blades and oil pipes, to name some examples, are pieces which need an antifouling and self-cleaning surface, at the time they require good mechanical properties as well as environmental and thermal stability. Epoxy resin networks modified with fluorinated chains are an excellent alternative to meet the required set of properties. Since fluorine is responsible for the interesting surface properties of fluoropolymers, an extensive study has been carried out in the past decades concerning their surfaces analysis and characterization. Nevertheless, the influence of the fluorinated chains in the bulk polymer structure and behavior has been poorly studied. In this work epoxy based networks where modified with fluorinated side chains and they were studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), achieving a good understanding about the modifier influence in the polymer structure and hence, how this affects other properties. Secondary and segmental relaxations were studied, first in the reactants, and then the results were translated to the epoxy networks, promoting a very well understanding of the polymer dynamics.