Ionomers are ion-containing polymers that have a relatively small amount of ionic groups along polymer backbone chains. Since their first appearance ca. 38 years ago, ionomers have been studied extensively because they exhibit unique physical properti...
Ionomers are ion-containing polymers that have a relatively small amount of ionic groups along polymer backbone chains. Since their first appearance ca. 38 years ago, ionomers have been studied extensively because they exhibit unique physical properties owing to the ionic interaction. It has been well known that ionic groups in ionomers tend to aggregates, since they are in a matrix of dielectric constant, thus forming ionic aggregates, so-called multiplets. The rigidity of the multiplets depends on the strength of the ionic interactions between ionic groups, and the mobility of chains surrounding the multiplet is reduced. When the multiplets are sufficiently dense so that the regions of restricted mobility surrounding each multiplet overlap, there by larger regions of restricted mobility, so-called clusters, from. The cluster regions show their own T_gs, i.e. cluster T_g, which is higher than the T_g of matrix phase. In the present study, we investigated the dynamic mechanical properties and morphology of poly(ethyl acrylate) ionomers by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques. This thies consists of five chapters. In the first chapter as an introduction section, the history and general characteristics of ionomers are presented. the second chapter is glass transition temperatures of poly(ethyl acrylate) ionomers neutralized with various cations were explored in terms of ion content and the type of cations. In that section, it was found that the matrix T_gs increased linearly with increasing ion content, and that the type of cations did not change the matrix T_gs. On one hand, in the plots of the cluster T_gs vs. cq/a, it was observed that the T_gs were superimposed on the one line. In addition, the small-angle x-ray study showed that with increasing the radius of cation the distance between scattering centers increased.Thus it was postulated that the restricted mobility layer became thickr slightly with increasing the size of a cation. In the third chapter is effects of two ionic groups in an ionic repeat unit on the properites and morphology of poly(ethyl acrylate-co-itaconate) ionomers was investigated. It was found that the P(EA-co-ITA) ionomers are much more well-clustered material, compared to corresponding polystyrene ionomers. Which allow the ITA units to from a number of multiplets, leading high clustering. It was also found that the difference between the matrix and cluster T_gs is in the range of ca. 170 - 180 ℃. In the last fourth chapter, the degree of neutralization of poly(ethyl acrylate-co-acrylate) ionomers were investigated using DMTA.