Investigation on Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Crosslinked Poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) Bulk Copolymers: Effect of Divinylbenzene Content

Abstract

The crosslinked poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) (CL-p(St-DVB)) bulk copolymers were fabricated by free-radical bulk crosslinking copolymerization (FCC) with styrene as monomer and divinylbenzene (DVB) as crosslinker. The viscoelastic properties of the crosslinked copolymers were investigated by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) as a function of temperature and frequency. The Arrhenius relationship was employed to calculate the activation energy of the α-relaxation transition for the specimens. The results revealed that the storage modulus (E′) of the copolymer networks enhanced with the rising DVB content. The loss tangent (tanδ) peaks were lower and broader. The dynamic mechanical responses of the CL-p(St-DVB) networks were also strongly depended on the test frequency.