Thermal and mechanical properties of random copolymers of diisopropyl fumarate with 1‐adamantyl and bornyl acrylates with high glass transition temperatures

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe report the thermal, optical, and mechanical properties of random copolymers produced by radical copolymerizations of diisopropyl fumarate (DiPF) with 1‐adamantyl acrylate (AdA) and bornyl acrylate (BoA). The effects of a methylene spacer included in the main chain and bulky ester alkyl groups in the side chain on the copolymer properties are discussed. The produced copolymers are characterized by NMR and UV–vis spectroscopies, size exclusion chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The copolymerization rate and the molecular weight of the copolymers increase with an increase in the acrylate content in feed during the copolymerization (Mw = 25–110 × 103). The onset temperature of decomposition (Td5) and the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the copolymers also increase according to the content of the acrylate units (Td5 = 296–329 °C and 281–322 °C, Tg = 80–133 °C and 91–106 °C for the copolymers of DiPF with AdA and BoA, respectively). Transparent and flexible copolymer films are obtained by a casting method and their optical properties such as transparency and refractive indices are investigated (nD = 1.478–1.479). The viscoelastic data of the copolymers are collected by DMA measurements under temperature control. The storage modulus decreases at a temperature region over the Tg value of the copolymers, depending on the structure and amount of the acrylate units. The sequence structure of the copolymers is analyzed based on monomer reactivity ratios and composition in order to discuss the copolymer properties related to chain rigidity and sequence length distribution. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017, 55, 288–296