Hydrophilic-hydrophobic two-component polymer networks: 2. Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene oxide)- linked-polybutadiene

Abstract

Hydrophilic—hydrophobic two-component networks were prepared by reacting end-functionalized poly(ethylene oxides) with polybutadiene. The poly(ethylene oxide)- linked-polybutadiene two-component networks phase-separate even for very short polyether chain lengths. By transmission electron microscopy, a bicontinuous interpenetrating morphological structure was determined. Heat capacity analysis shows that the mobility of the polybutadiene is influenced by the polyether phase. The same result is obtained from stress—strain experiments. Analysis of the swelling data in different solvents (tetrahydrofuran, cyclohexane, water) show that the hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance in such two—component networks is altered by varying the crosslink density and the polyether chain lengths.