REVERSIBLE EPOXY NETWORKS WITH PHYSICAL CROSSLINKS BASED ON TAIL-TO-TAIL ASSOCIATIONS OF ALKYL CHAINS

J. PUIG; C.E. HOPPE; I. A. ZUCCHI; A. LEDO-SUÁREZ; M. J. GALANTE; R. J. J. WILLIAMS

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Otro; POLYCHAR 18 World Forum for Advanced Materials; 2010

Linear amphiphilic epoxy polymers synthesized by the polyaddition of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with alkylamines like octylamine (OA), dodecylamine (DA) and hexadecylamine (HA), undergo a physical gelation process through tail-to-tail association of alkyl chains. SAXS spectra showed that tail-to-tail associations of alkyl chains were present since the beginning of polymerization and remained in the final materials. Initially, these associations correspond to micelles of the alkylamines dispersed in the solvent (DGEBA). In the course of polymerization micelles are disaggregated as the individual alkylamine chains become part of the linear amphiphilic polymer. However, tail-to-tail associations among alkyl chains attached to the polymer backbone persisted in the final materials. Amphiphilic gels based on DGEBA-DA were used as dispersion media for a variety of nanoparticles stabilized with alky chains.