Water Uptake of Poly(2-N-alkyl-2-oxazoline)s: Influence of Crystallinity and Hydrogen-bonding on the Mechanical Properties
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Rettler, Erik; Lambermont-Thijs, Hanneke M. L.; Kranenburg, Johannes M.; Hoogenboom, Richard; Unger, Miriam V.; Siesler, Heinz W.; Schubert, Ulrich S.
- Abstract:
- Poly(2-oxazoline)s are suitable materials to study structure–property relationships as their preparation
by a living cationic ring-opening polymerization procedure and the relatively facile monomer synthesis
allow accurate control over the molecular structure. In this contribution, the number of carbon atoms
in the linear side-chain is systematically varied from a short methyl- to a long nonyl-group. As some of
the materials are known to be hygroscopic, the effect of water uptake on the mechanical properties is
investigated in detail. The combination of water uptake measurements, FT-IR spectroscopy and
indentation revealed that only the samples with very short side-chains show significant hygroscopicity,
while samples with longer side-chains exhibit crystalline behavior. Furthermore, depending on the
polymer structure, it could be differentiated between side-chain and main-chain crystallinity.
- Year:
- 2011
- Type of Publication:
- Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry
- Volume:
- 21
- Pages:
- 17331 - 17337