POSS-Induced Rheological and Dielectric Modification of Polyethersulfone

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-15-2021

School

Polymer Science and Engineering

Abstract

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanostructured chemicals, when incorporated at low levels in thermoplastics, provide processability enhancement and viscosity reduction without compromising other bulk physical properties. POSS has been relatively unexplored in high performance polymers, and there is incomplete understanding of the mechanisms by which POSS produces flow improvements. In this study, polyethersulfone (PES) was melt-blended with trisilanolphenyl (TSP)-POSS and dodecaphenyl (DP)-POSS; and rheological, dielectric spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy evaluations were conducted to identify structure/property/processing relationships. TSP-POSS yielded greater processability improvements and viscosity reductions than DP-POSS, suppressed low temperature relaxations to a larger extent, and displayed a greater degree of nanoscale dispersion in the polymer matrix. The findings are evaluated in terms of competing theories of POSS viscosity reduction.

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Polymer Science

Volume

138

Issue

23

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