Formation of fibril structures in polymerizable, rod-coil-oligomer-modified epoxy networks
Yingfeng Yu1, Zongyong Gao, Guozhu Zhan
1The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Ministry of Education and Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. yfyu@fudan.edu.cn
Abstract:
This paper describes the in situ preparation of fibrils in epoxy networks in which the fibril-like structures are cured polymerizable rod-coil oligomers. The epoxy-terminated alpha,omega-modified PEO oligomers, which are ABA rod-coil-rod oligomers with a poly(ethylene oxide) coil unit and two aromatic azomethine liquid-crystalline rod units, were synthesized and then further blended with an epoxy precursor. Uniform nanoscale columnar structures were observed in the neat rod-coil oligomers as well as in the crosslinked liquid-crystalline state. During the curing of the blends, the supramolecular nanoscale columnar structures of the rod-coil oligomers are transformed into polymeric fibrils where the epoxy functional end groups have co-reacted with epoxy precursors to form a crosslinked network.
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