Effect of confinement on the relaxation behavior of poly(ethylene oxide)

Influence of Alternating Multi-Layered Design on Damping Characteristics of Butyl Rubber Composites and a New Idea for Achieving Wide Temperature Range and High Damping Performance

This paper investigates the influence of an alternating multi-layered design on the material loss factor and effective temperature range of free/constrained-damping butyl rubber, and then proposes a new method of designing materials with high damping properties and a wide temperature range. First, the wide-temperature rubber IIR-0, the low-temperature rubber IIR-1, the medium-temperature rubber IIR-2, and the high-temperature rubber IIR-3 are prepared and characterized. Second, the influences of an alternating multi-layered design on the damping peak values and temperature range of free damping and micro-constrained damping of the rubber types are investigated. Finally, different methods for broadening the damping temperature range and improving the damping loss factor are discussed. The results show that the loss factor of the alternating multi-layered, constrained damping structure is increased to 0.488, while that of the free-damping structure is increased to 0.845. Their damping-temperature ranges are increased to 89.4 °C and 93.2 °C, respectively. A wide temperature range and high damping performance can be achieved by the alternating multi-layered design of rubber/plastic micro-constrained damping composites.

Constrained Amorphous Interphase in Poly(l-lactic acid): Estimation of the Tensile Elastic Modulus

The mechanical properties of semicrystalline PLLA containing exclusively α'- or α-crystals have been investigated. The connection between experimental elastic moduli and phase composition has been analyzed as a function of the polymorphic crystalline form. For a complete interpretation of the mechanical properties, the contribution of the crystalline regions and the constrained amorphous interphase or rigid amorphous fraction (RAF) has been quantified by a three-phase mechanical model. The mathematical approach allowed the simultaneous quantification of the elastic moduli of (i) the α'- and α-phases (11.2 and 14.8 GPa, respectively, in excellent agreement with experimental and theoretical data reported in the literature) and (ii) the rigid amorphous fractions linked to the α'- and α-forms (5.4 and 6.1 GPa, respectively). In parallel, the densities of the RAF connected with α'- and α-crystals have been measured (1.17 and 1.11 g/cm³, respectively). The slightly higher value of the elastic modulus of the RAF connected to the α-crystals and its lower density have been associated to a stronger chain coupling at the amorphous/crystal interface. Thus, the elastic moduli at T _room of the crystalline (E _C), mobile amorphous (E _MAF), and rigid amorphous (E _RAF) fractions of PLLA turned out to be quantitatively in the order of E _MAF < E _RAF < E _C, with the experimental E _MAF value equal to 3.6 GPa. These findings can allow a better tailoring of the properties of PLLA materials in relation to specific applications.

High Ion-Conducting Solid-State Composite Electrolytes with Carbon Quantum Dot Nanofillers

Solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) with high ionic conductivity are desirable for next generation lithium- and sodium-ion batteries with enhanced safety and energy density. Nanoscale fillers such as alumina, silica, and titania nanoparticles are known to improve the ionic conduction of SPEs and the conductivity enhancement is more favorable for nanofillers with a smaller size. However, aggregation of nanoscale fillers in SPEs limits particle size reduction and, in turn, hinders ionic conductivity improvement. Here, a novel poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based nanocomposite polymer electrolyte (NPE) is exploited with carbon quantum dots (CQDs) that are enriched with oxygen-containing functional groups. Well-dispersed, 2.0-3.0 nm diameter CQDs offer numerous Lewis acid sites that effectively increase the dissociation degree of lithium and sodium salts, adsorption of anions, and the amorphicity of the PEO matrix. Thus, the PEO/CQDs-Li electrolyte exhibits an exceptionally high ionic conductivity of 1.39 × 10-4 S cm-1 and a high lithium transference number of 0.48. In addition, the PEO/CQDs-Na electrolyte has ionic conductivity and sodium ion transference number values of 7.17 × 10-5 S cm-1 and 0.42, respectively. It is further showed that all solid-state lithium/sodium rechargeable batteries assembled with PEO/CQDs NPEs display excellent rate performance and cycling stability.

Tunable Shape Memory Performances via Multilayer Assembly of Thermoplastic Polyurethane and Polycaprolactone

Shape memory materials containing alternating layers of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were fabricated through layer-multiplying extrusion. As a type of special co-continuous morphology, the multilayer structure had stable and well-defined continuous layer spaces and could be controlled by changing the number of layers. Compared with conventional polymer blends, the multilayer-assembled system with the same compositions had higher shape-fixing and -recovery ratios that could be further improved by increasing the number of layers. By analyzing from a viscoelastic model, the deformation energy preserved in elastic TPU layers would be balanced by adjacent PCL layers through interfacial shearing effect so that each component in the multilayer structure was capable of endowing the maximum contribution to both of the shape-fixing and -recovery stages. Besides, the influence of the hardness of TPU layers and the morphology of PCL layers were respectively concerned as well. Results revealed that choosing low-hardness TPU or replacing neat PCL layers by TPU/PCL blend with co-continuous morphology were beneficial to achieving outstanding shape memory performances.

Effects of nanoscopic-confinement on polymer dynamics

The static and dynamic behavior of polymers in confinement close to interfaces can be very different from that in the bulk. Among the various geometries, intercalated nanocomposites, in which polymer films of ∼1 nm thickness reside between the parallel inorganic surfaces of layered silicates in a well-ordered multilayer, offer a unique avenue for the investigation of the effects of nanoconfinement on polymer structure and dynamics by utilizing conventional analytical techniques and macroscopic specimens. In this article, we provide a review of research activities mainly in our laboratory on polymer dynamics under severe confinement utilizing different polymer systems: polar and non-polar polymers were mixed with hydrophilic or organophilic silicates, respectively, whereas hyperbranched polymers were studied in an attempt to probe the effect of polymer-surface interactions by altering the number and the kinds of functional groups in the periphery of the branched polymers. The polymer dynamics was probed by quasielastic neutron scattering and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and was compared with that of the polymers in the bulk. In all cases, very local sub-Tg processes related to the motion of side and/or end groups as well as the segmental α-relaxation were identified with distinct differences recorded between the bulk and the confined systems. Confinement was found not to affect the very local motion in the case of the linear chains whereas it made it easier for hyperbranched polymers due to modifications of the hydrogen bond network. The segmental relaxation in confinement becomes faster than that in the bulk, exhibits Arrhenius temperature dependence and is observed even below the bulk Tg due to reduced cooperativity in the confined systems.

Structural evolution during mechanical deformation in high-barrier PVDF-TFE/PET multilayer films using in situ X-ray techniques

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (PVDF-TFE) is confined between alternating layers of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) utilizing a unique multilayer processing technology, in which PVDF-TFE and PET are melt-processed in a continuous fashion. Postprocessing techniques including biaxial orientation and melt recrystallization were used to tune the crystal orientation of the PVDF-TFE layers, as well as achieve crystallinity in the PET layers through strain-induced crystallization and thermal annealing during the melt recrystallization step. A volume additive model was used to extract the effect of crystal orientation within the PVDF-TFE layers and revealed a significant enhancement in the modulus from 730 MPa in the as-extruded state (isotropic) to 840 MPa in the biaxially oriented state (on-edge) to 2230 MPa in the melt-recrystallized state (in-plane). Subsequently, in situ wide-angle X-ray scattering was used to observe the crystal structure evolution during uniaxial deformation in both the as-extruded and melt-recrystallized states. It is observed that the low-temperature ferroelectric PVDF-TFE crystal phase in the as-extruded state exhibits equatorial sharpening of the 110 and 200 crystal peaks during deformation, quantified using the Hermans orientation function, while in the melt-recrystallized state, an overall increase in the crystallinity occurs during deformation. Thus, we correlated the mechanical response (strain hardening) of the films to these respective evolved crystal structures and highlighted the ability to tailor mechanical response. With a better understanding of the structural evolution during deformation, it is possible to more fully characterize the structural response to handling during use of the high-barrier PVDF-TFE/PET multilayer films as commercial dielectrics and packaging materials.

Deformation of confined poly(ethylene oxide) in multilayer films

The effect of confinement on the deformation behavior of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was studied using melt processed coextruded poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (EAA) and PEO multilayer films with varying PEO layer thicknesses from 3600 to 25 nm. The deformation mechanism was found to shift as layer thickness was decreased between 510 and 125 nm, from typical axial alignment of the crystalline fraction, as seen in bulk materials, to nonuniform micronecking mechanisms found in solution-grown single crystals. This change was evaluated via tensile testing, wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With the commercially relevant method of melt coextrusion, we were able to overcome the limitations to the testing of solution-grown single crystals, and the artifacts that occur from their handling, and bridged the gap in knowledge between thick bulk materials and thin single crystals.