Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
Synthesis and curing of hyperbranched poly(triazole)s with click polymerization for improved adhesion strength
Youhong Tang1, Cathy K W Jim, Yang Liu
1Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
We successfully synthesized hyperbranched poly(triazole)s by in situ click polymerization of diazides 1 and triyne 2 monomers on different metal surfaces (copper, iron, and aluminum) and characterized their adhesive properties. Optimizations were performed to obtain high adhesive strength at different temperatures by analyzing the effects of curing kinetics, annealing temperature and time, catalyst, monomer ratio, surface conditions, alkyl chain length of diazides 1, etc. The adhesive bonding strength with metal substrate is 2 orders of magnitude higher than similar hyperbranched poly(triazole)s made by click polymerization and clearly higher than some commercial adhesives at elevated temperatures. With the same conditions, adhesives prepared on aluminum and iron substrates have higher adhesive strength than those prepared on copper substrate, and an excess of triyne 2 monomer in synthesis has greater adhesive strength than an excess of diazide 1 monomer. Tof-SIMS experiment was employed to understand these phenomena, and the existence of an interphase between the polymer and metal surface was found to be critical for adhesive bonding with thicker interphase (excess of triyne 2 monomer) and the higher binding energy between polymer atoms and substrate atoms (e.g., aluminum substrate) generating the higher bonding strength. In addition, the light-emitting property of synthesized polymers under UV irradiation can be used to check the failure mode of adhesive bonding.
Related Concept Videos
Step-Growth Polymerization: Overview
Many natural and synthetic polymers are produced by...
Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview
Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism
Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview
Olefin Metathesis Polymerization: Acyclic Diene Metathesis (ADMET)
Similar to cross-metathesis, ADMET also involves the formation of metallacyclobutane intermediate by [2+2] cycloaddition of one of the double bonds of a terminal diene with...
Polymer Classification: Architecture

