Glass Transition Temperature Broadening of Syrene/n-Butyl Acrylate Gradient Copolymer and Polyphenylene Oxide Blends | AIChE

Glass Transition Temperature Broadening of Syrene/n-Butyl Acrylate Gradient Copolymer and Polyphenylene Oxide Blends

Over the past several decades, there has been great interest in polymeric materials that exhibit damping properties to minimize sound and vibrations.The acoustic properties of polymers are closely coupled with its glass transition, which is the transition from a glassy state to a rubbery state that occurs over a temperature regime specific to that polymer. A broad glass transition is a highly desirable feature, because the temperature range over which the material exhibits good damping characteristics is also broadened.My research focuses on broadening the glass transition behavior of a styrene-based polymer blend. I hypothesized that unusually broad glass transitions would be observed when synthesizing styrene/n-butyl acrylate gradient copolymers to lower the onset of the glass transition regime, and then blending the copolymers with polyphenylene oxide (PPO) to raise the endset of the glass transition regime. I expect the glass transition to broaden with increasing amounts of n-butyl acrylate and PPO in the polymer blend, until a limit of miscibility after which the components of the polymer blend will phase separate. Experiments have shown good miscibility and glass transition breadths already exceeding breadths previously reported for blends of polystyrene homopolymer and PPO, indicating the great potential of these novel materials for damping applications.