Evolution of vibrational properties during a macromolecule’s growth

Kinetics of polymerization of a liquid with nanosize structural heterogeneities

We report the effects of chemically reacting, nanometer-size structural heterogeneity on a polymerization process. Heterogeneity is introduced by adding 2 nm size molecules of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane with multiepoxide groups (POSS) while maintaining stoichiometry of a polymerizing triamine-diepoxide mixture. Calorimetric studies show that POSS addition first increases the polymerization rate and then decreases it progressively more. In the presence of nanometer-scale structural heterogeneity, diffusion-controlled kinetics begins sooner in time. The enthalpy of polymerization decreases with the amount of POSS heterogeneity according to the mixture rule; the glass-liquid transition endotherm of the partially polymerized state becomes broader, and the enthalpy of post polymerization decreases. The POSS-alone mixture polymerizes relatively slower, and the glass-liquid transition exotherm of the polymerized state is indistinguishably broad. Both are attributed to the distribution of diffusion rates or dispersive kinetics, and the development of dynamic heterogeneity more rapidly for the POSS-only mixture than for others. Increase in the polymerization rate on initial addition of nanometer-size POSS and then decrease on further addition is explained in terms of decoupling of diffusion from viscous flow, that is, when the diffusion rate decreases less rapidly with the polymerization time than the viscosity increases.

Brillouin study of photopolymerization process of two-monomer systems

The results of Brillouin scattering investigations of two-component system: 2,2-bis[4-(2-hydroxy-3-methacryloxypropoxy)phenyl]propane/polyethylene glycol methacrylate (bis-GMA/PEGMM) containing 0, 30, 50, 70, 85 and 100 mol% of PEGMM are presented. For the first time the Brillouin spectroscopy was used to monitor the progress of the polymerization process. The polymerization was initiated by ultraviolet radiation (λ=365 nm), at temperature 20°C and 40°C. Some of the physical parameters characteristic for this system such as velocity V, adiabatic compressibility β(ad) and attenuation coefficient α of the acoustic waves have been estimated from Brillouin spectra as a functions of the polymerization time. The obtained results have been discussed in terms of changes of the elastic properties of the two-component system occurring during polymerization process and their dependence on bis-GMA/PEGMM system composition.

Dielectric relaxation and crystallization of nanophase separated 1-propanol-isoamylbromide mixture

The effects of liquid-liquid phase separation on molecular relaxation of an apparently homogeneous mixture of 1-propanol and isoamylbromide has been studied by dielectric spectroscopy over a broad frequency and temperature range, and its crystallization kinetics investigated in real time. The mixture shows two widely separated relaxation processes, as before, with the faster relaxation due to the orientational diffusion of isoamylbromide and the slower due to that of 1-propanol. In the mixture, the scaled contribution to permittivity from orientation polarization, Deltaepsilon, of isoamylbromide is about the same as in the pure state, but that of 1-propanol decreases by a factor of approximately 3 at 120 K. As the temperature is decreased, this difference remains constant. The relaxation time, tau, of isoamylbromide and its distribution parameter remains the same as for the pure liquid, but that of 1-propanol is longer and increases with decrease in T, becoming approximately 130 times the pure liquid's value at 119 K. This is in contrast to the finding for an isomeric heptanol, whose tau had decreased. Extrapolation suggests that at T>151 K, tau of 1-propanol in the mixture may become less than that in the pure liquid (the isoamylbromide component crystallizes before this temperature could be reached). This indicates that Tg corresponding to tau of 10(3) s for 1-propanol in the mixture would be higher than in the pure liquid. Crystallization of the two components in the mixture occurs at different rates and 1-propanol remains partially uncrystallized while isoamylbromide completely crystallizes. tau of any remaining liquid isoamylbromide does not change in the presence of crystallized states while tau of residual liquid 1-propanol in the mixture is reduced. The mixture phase separates in submicron or nanosize aggregates of the alcohol in isoamylbromide, without affecting the latter's relaxation kinetics, while its own epsilon(s) decreases and tau increases. Consequences of the finding for various relaxation mechanisms are briefly described.

Thermal conductivity of a polymerizing liquid

Thermal conductivity kappa of seven polymerizing liquids has been measured in real time at different temperatures, and calorimetry and dielectric spectroscopy of one liquid are performed to help interpret the results. As a covalently bonded linear chain or a network structure in the liquid grows, kappa of the Debye equation initially increases with the polymerization time t(polym) as the molecular weight, density, and sound velocity increase, as on cooling a liquid. The measured kappa reaches a maximum and then decreases, thus showing a peak at a certain t(polym) and finally becomes constant, which is not the true behavior of steady state kappa. The dielectric relaxation time of the covalently bonded structure at the t(polym) for the kappa peak is less than 5 s and the extent of polymerization is below the vitrification plateau value. The peak height increases when the pulse time for kappa measurement is increased. An increase in the liquid's temperature shifts the kappa peak to a shorter t(polym). Liquid compositions polymerizing rapidly show a similar shift, and those polymerizing slowly or whose viscosity does not reach a high enough value show a small kappa peak or none. The kappa peak may be an artifact of the time dependence of heat capacity during the pulse time used for the kappa measurement, as proposed for glasses and supercooled liquids, similar to the changes in other properties observed as an artifact of kinetic freezing/unfreezing. For a polymerizing liquid, the peak may additionally arise when the rate of increase in the elastic modulus becomes equal to the rate of decrease in equilibrium Cp. In either case, its appearance does not distinguish the Brownian motions' slowing on polymerization from that on cooling or compressing a liquid.

Dielectric relaxation and elasticity during polymerization

A molecular kinetics-elasticity relation has been investigated by using real time dielectric spectroscopy of a diepoxide-triamine liquid mixture polymerizing at 298 K. As the liquid polymerized, the dielectric relaxation time tau increased linearly with the exponential of the known value of the instantaneous shear modulus G(infinity), in agreement with the elastic model for viscous flow but without the effect of temperature. Thus the structure-dependent effect on the Brownian motions are separated from the temperature-dependent effect. In this time-dependent process, increase in G(infinity) may be compensated by an increase in T, thereby keeping G(infinity) and tau constant. In the potential energy landscape paradigm, a polymerizing liquid's state point, like a normal liquid's on cooling, continuously shifts to deeper and lower energy minima of higher curvature, but the shift occurs irreversibly to other parts of the total energy landscape, thus adding a reaction coordinate to the landscape. A minimum in the energy landscape corresponding to a structure formed by polymerization may be identical to a minimum in another landscape corresponding to another structure.