Tunable Crystalline Phases in UV-Curable PEG-Grafted Ladder-Structured Silsesquioxane/Polyimide Composites.

ABSTRACT: A series of UV-curable hybrid composite blends containing a carboxylic acid functionalized polyimidewith varying amounts of high molecular weight (~1 K) PEG-grafted ladder-structured polysilsesquioxanes copolymerized with methacryl groups were fabricated and their structural, thermal, mechanical, and surface properties characterized. At a composite weight ratio of polyimide above 50 wt.%, a stark shift from amorphous to crystalline polyethylene glycol (PEG) phases were observed, accompanied by a drastic increase in both surface moduli and brittleness index. Moreover, fabricated composites were shown to have a wide range water contact angle, 9.8°-73.8°, attesting to the tunable surface properties of these amphiphilic hybrid polymer composites. The enhanced mechanical properties, combined wi

SUBMITTER: Kim RI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287875 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature