Method of tuning physical properties of thermosets
| DWPI Title: Forming thermoset involves mixing resin, curing agent, and secondary polymer reactive with either the resin or the curing agent to provide liquid mixture, and curing the liquid mixture, where liquid mixture phase separates to form thermoset with phase separated domains and composition |
| Abstract: Polymerization-induced phase separation enables fine control over thermoset network morphologies, yielding heterogeneous structures with domain sizes tunable over 1-100 nm. However, the controlled chain-growth polymerization techniques exclusively employed to regulate morphology at these length scales are unsuitable for most thermoset materials typically formed through step-growth mechanisms. By employing binary mixtures in place of the classic constituents of phase-separating thermosets—resin, curing agent, and secondary polymer—facile tunability over morphology can be achieved through a single compositional parameter. Indeed, this method yields morphologies spanning nano-scale to macro-scale, controlled by the relative reactivities and thermodynamic compatibility of the network components. Due to the connection between chain dynamics and microstructure in these materials, the tunable morphology enables exquisite control over glass transition and other physical and mechanical properties. |
| Use: Method for forming a thermoset. |
| Advantage: The binary mixture is employed to simultaneously favor disparate phase separation processes and enable morphology to be broadly tuned simply through a single compositional parameter. The method yields morphologies spanning nano-scale to macro-scale, controlled by the relative reactivities and thermodynamic compatibility of the network components. The tunable morphology enables exquisite control over glass transition and other physical and mechanical properties. |
| Novelty: The method involves mixing a resin, a curing agent, and a secondary polymer reactive with either the resin or the curing agent to provide a liquid mixture, where at least one of the resin, curing agent, or secondary polymer comprises at least a binary mixture of resins, curing agents, or secondary polymers; and curing the liquid mixture. The liquid mixture phase separates to form a thermoset with phase separated domains and composition of the at least binary mixture is selected to tune a size and composition of the phase separated domains. |
| Filed: 1/17/2022 |
| Application Number: US17577111A |
| Tech ID: SD 15778.0 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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