Curing kinetics of a “green” thiol‐containing resin: Oligo(ethylene‐2‐mercaptosuccinate)

Abstract

This work focuses on examining the curing process of neat oligo(ethylene-2-mercaptosuccinate) using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), rheology, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The thiol-containing resin offers much promise as a bioabsorbable polymer in medical field and as a reusable thermoset in sustainable applications. Although curing between thiol groups has been investigated in solutions, studies of neat materials without solvent are rare. Here, the evolution of glass transition temperature (T g ), complex shear modulus (G*), gelation, and chemical structure are monitored as a function of isothermal curing time and temperature. Both T g and G* increase with curing, indicating the formation of polymer networks. The conversion of the cure is determined from the DiBenedetto equation and is found to follow a second-order plus second-order autocatalytic reaction model. Importantly, the intensity of the S-H bond absorption decreases with the extent of curing, which confirms the curing mechanism, i.e., disulfide formation between the thiol groups. V C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43205.

Rheological Studies of Reworkable Photocuring Resins

“…In this study, we extend the previous study to investigate the rheological properties [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] of the reworkable resins.…”

Poly(lactic acid)/montmorillonite blown films: Crystallization, mechanics, and permeation

“…The T g measured in the dynamic mechanical tests, on average, is 15 K higher than that obtained from DSC scans. The difference might be expected since different techniques weight the relaxation time distribution differently . In fact, −1 to 12 K T g differences have been found previously for poly(α‐methyl styrene)/hexamer blends between the DSC and rheology results .…”