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Porous elastomeric beads from crosslinked emulsions
Author(s) -
Dufaud O.,
Favre E.,
Sadtler V.
Publication year - 2001
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.2276
Subject(s) - elastomer , materials science , polymer , porosity , emulsion , particle (ecology) , chemical engineering , composite material , porous medium , solvent , glass transition , polymer chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , oceanography , engineering , geology
The production of porous polymeric particles is attractive for a large number of applications and can be achieved by various techniques. Although numerous production schemes exist for glassy polymers, difficulties arise for soft, rubbery materials that need a chemical crosslinking step, such as elastomers. This is particularly true for poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), which shows the lowest glass‐transition temperature among the polymers. Recent studies suggest in situ hydrogen bubble formation or vacuum drying of water droplets dispersed in the polymer matrix in order to generate porous PDMS structures. In this work we report early results based on the chemical crosslinking of water in PDMS emulsion droplets in a mechanically stirred thermostated water vessel. This approach is shown to lead to high porosity PDMS beads (ca. 10 −3 m particle diameter) with an open structure whose properties (diameter and porosity) are strongly influenced by the starting composition (solvent, surfactant, and polymer types and ratios), as well as the operating parameters (agitation and temperature). The possible uses of these derived beads are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 967–971, 2002