Abstract
SummaryHigh modulus two‐stage reactive polymer systems are fabricated and characterized in regards to their thermomechanical properties and behavior. The polymer networks comprise thiol‐acrylate formulations in which a polymer matrix is initially formed via an amine catalyzed thiol‐Michael addition ‘click’ reaction, eventually followed by photoinitiated, free radical polymerization of the excess acrylic functional groups to result in formation of a highly crosslinked, high modulus polymer material. Composites were formed and evaluated using two distinct polymerizable thiol‐acrylate formulations, each with three different filler types. Here, the fillers were used primarily to improve the mechanical performance of the polymer material following the initial Michael addition reaction though improvements were also observed in some materials following the photopolymerization as well. The fillers used were 0.7 µm methacrylated silica particles, translucent Kevlar veil and PET mesh. Thermomechanical analysis showed that the fillers resulted in a significant increase in the modulus in both the polymer networks formed at the end of each of the orthogonal reactions without a significant change in the glass transition temperatures (Tg). The two‐stage matrix formed with a hexa‐acrylate matrix and 20 volume % silica particles showed a 125% increase in the modulus at the end of the Michael‐addition reaction and a 100% increase in the modulus after photopolymerization of the acrylates, when compared with the modulus of the unfilled polymer.
Published Version
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