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Indication of Local Phase Separation in Polyimide/Silica Hybrid Polymers
Author(s) -
Bartolotta Antonino,
Calandra Pietro
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201000110
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer , polyimide , dynamic mechanical analysis , phase (matter) , nanoparticle , micrometer , relaxation (psychology) , chemical engineering , sol gel , glass transition , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , optics , layer (electronics) , psychology , social psychology , physics , engineering
PI/SiO 2 hybrid polymers involving the in situ generation of SiO 2 particles through the sol/gel route have emerged as promising materials in many fields of modern technology thanks to their unique structural characteristics. In this paper their structural and dynamic properties were investigated by FT‐IR and DMTA as a function of SiO 2 content. All data consistently highlight a loosening of polymeric structure due to the presence of SiO 2 nanoparticles and suggest a silica‐induced structural change most probably due to a sub‐micrometer scale SiO 2 phase separation. Our results demonstrate how the analysis of sub‐glass γ‐relaxation dynamics can be exploited to investigate sub‐micro phase segregation in such materials.