Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Waterborne ABA Hard-Soft-Hard Block Copolymers Synthesized by Means of RAFT Miniemulsion Polymerization.

ABSTRACT: High molecular weight waterborne ABA block copolymers of styrene (St) and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2EHA) containing hard and soft domains were synthesized by means of RAFT (mini)emulsion polymerization using a bifunctional symmetric S,S-dibenzyl trithiocarbonate (DBTTC) RAFT agent. Miniemulsion polymerization was initially used for the synthesis of the A-block, which forms hard domains, followed by 2EHA pre-emulsion feeding to build the B-block soft domains. Polymerization kinetics and the evolution of the Molecular Weight Distribution (MWD) were followed during the synthesis of different ABA block copolymers. The thermal properties of the final symmetric block copolymers were studied on dried films by means of DSC. It was found that the block copolymers have two glass transitions, which ind

SUBMITTER: Siljanovska Petreska G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6722633 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature