Properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) containing epoxy‐functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

Abstract

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) containing epoxy‐functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) was prepared by melt‐mixing and in situ polymerization methods. The melt‐mixed composite showed phase separation while the in situ polymerized composite did not, based on SEM characterization. During melt mixing, the reaction between the epoxy groups of POSS and hydroxyl groups of PET occurred, based on DSC results. DSC results on the in situ polymerization product showed formation of a lower‐melting component compared with PET. The tensile strength and modulus of the melt‐mixed composite fiber decreased compared with those properties of PET, whereas those of the in situ polymerized composite showed slightly higher values than PET despite the relatively small amounts (1 wt%) of POSS used. Dynamic mechanical analysis results showed an increase in storage modulus for the in situ polymerized composite of POSS and PET compared with PET over the temperature range of 40 °C to 140 °C. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry

Segmental dynamics in hybrid polymer/POSS nanomaterials

“…In an early work, Yoon et al three epoxy functional groups, namely tris(glycidyldimethylsilyl) heptacyclopentyl POSS [80]. They compared melt blended and in-situ polymerized systems.…”

POSSⓇ in Tight Places

“…POSS are hybrid cage molecules related to silicones, with a chemical structure (RSiO 1.5 ) consisting of an inorganic core (SiO 1.5 ) and organic side groups (R). As a result of this structure, POSS can be incorporated into polymer systems in a number of ways including blending, grafting and copolymerization [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Many variations of POSS molecules can be synthesized; a few of greatest interest to the current srudy are illustrated in Fig.…”

“…Much research has gone into studying the effects of POSS which has been grafted onto [3,6] or copolymerized [3,5] into a polymer backbone, in which case these materials are simply interesting monomers. Less has been understood until recently about the behavior and interactions of POSS blended into a polymer system, and how to obtain successful property enhancements when using POSS as an additive.…”

Telechelic Poly(ethylene glycol)−POSS Amphiphiles at the Air/Water Interface

“…21 In contrast, fully condensed polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules (Figure 1), such as a closed cage POSS ( Figure 1A) (R 8 T 8 , where T is a silsesquioxane unit and R is alkyl), are nonamphiphilic. 23,24 Given both the theoretical and experimental interest in POSS as a versatile hybrid organic-inorganic material with a core-shell structure, [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and the fact that open cage [33][34][35][36] trisilanol-POSS structures ( Figure 1B) are amphiphilic (T 7 R 7 (OH) 3 , where R is variable), combining POSS with PEG could lead to interesting amphiphiles.…”