Our main approach to the synthesis and study of hybrid organic/ inorganic materials involves incorporating nano-size inorganic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) clusters into various polymeric resins. A typical POSS cluster is a discrete silicon and oxygen framework solubilize with organic groups and contains a single reactive site. This lone site of reactivity is used to covalently attach the inorganic macromers pendent to a polymer backbone without causing any crosslinking. This ...
The mechanical relaxation behavior and microstructure of a series of novel norbornyl-POSS organic-inorganic copolymers have been investigated. Furthermore, we examined the influence of weight fraction of POSS-norbornyl monomer, as well as the potential sensitivity to the seven organic corner groups present in each POSS macromer. POSS refers to the Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane inorganic/organic macromer, which is composed of an inorganic Si8O12 spherical core surrounded with seven inert organic corner groups ...
We have taken a unique approach to the synthesis and study of hybrid organic/inorganic materials. Our method involves synthesizing nano-size inorganic P(l0)R(7)Si(8)O(12) clusters which contain seven inert "R" groups for solubility and only one functional "P" group for polymerization. This strategy permits the synthesis of melt processable, linear hybrid polymers containing pendent inorganic clusters and allows us to study the effect these clusters have on chain motions and polymer properties. ...
The design of new materials with enhanced properties continues to be a driver for the investigation of hybrid inorganic/organic polymers. As hybrid materials are copolymers based on inorganic and organic comonomers, they display enhanced properties by bridging the property space between two dissimilar types of compounds. A typical hybrid material will contain a crosslinked inorganic phase bound (often covalently) with an organic phase. Depending on the relative amounts of the ...
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