Premium
Effects of cholesteric order on mechanical properties of (E‐CE)C/PAA composites
Author(s) -
Jiang S. H.,
Huang Y.,
Shen J. R.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1995.070570411
Subject(s) - materials science , composite material , amorphous solid , acrylic acid , elastic modulus , modulus , phase (matter) , flexural strength , polymer , crystallography , monomer , chemistry , organic chemistry
The ethyl‐cyanoethyl cellulose [(E‐CE)C]/poly(acrylic acid) [PAA] composites were prepared via in situ photopolymerization of the (E‐CE)C/acrylic acid (AA) solutions, in which the morphology and structure of (E‐CE)C was retained as the same as that in the solution. The strength and the modulus of the composites depended on their morphology and structure. The strength of the composites with a completely amorphous state or with a completely cholesteric order did not significantly change with increasing (E‐CE)C content, although the strength of the composites with completely cholesteric order is much higher than with the completely amorphous state. However, when the (E‐CE)C content changed from 33.8% to 42.5%, in which the composites had both cholesteric order and amorphous phases, the strength of the composites greatly increased with increasing (E‐CE)C. The elastic modulus of the composites with completely isotropic structure decreases with increasing (E‐CE)C content but abruptly increases with increasing the fraction of cholesteric phase in the composites. The (E‐CE)C with cholesteric order had a significant enhancing effect on the strength of the composites. The stress–strain curves indicated that the composites with completely amorphous or completely cholesteric order were breakable, while they were tough in the case when they had both cholesteric and amorphous phases. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.