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Characterization of networks from photoreactive copolymers: an attempt to correlate chemical composition to network structure
Author(s) -
Husár Branislav,
Commereuc Sophie,
Chmela Štefan,
Verney Vincent
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
polymer international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.592
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-0126
pISSN - 0959-8103
DOI - 10.1002/pi.2901
Subject(s) - polymer , polystyrene , irradiation , copolymer , polymer network , benzil , materials science , polymer chemistry , gel point , peroxide , macromolecule , network structure , melting point , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , catalysis , computer science , biochemistry , physics , nuclear physics , engineering , machine learning
The photoreactivity of polystyrene bearing photoreactive benzil (BZ) pendant groups was studied. Upon irradiation (λ > 370 nm), BZ groups were transformed to benzoyl peroxide (BP) groups that caused crosslinking of the polymer upon heating. The main goal of this study was to characterize the final network. Melt viscoelasticity is a powerful method to assess some specific parameters of a crosslinking process (gel point, crosslink density). Classical methods based on low‐frequency slope variations, such as the Winter and Chambon method, were successfully applied. A good correlation was established between the content of BP groups after the first irradiation and the final density of the network after crosslinking. It was determined that at least two peroxidic species (BP groups) per macromolecular chain are necessary to reach the gel point. The concentration of BZ groups and their conversion into BP groups are the factors supporting a denser network. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry