Dissociative covalent adaptable networks from unsaturated polyesters

Abstract

Unsaturated polyesters (UPEs) are a class of thermosetting resins which are prevalent in the polymer industry, offering excellent durability in many applications. However, their permanent crosslinks prevent re-use or recycling at their end-of-life. This problem is addressed using UPEs to generate dissociative covalent adaptable networks (CANs). Poly(propylene maleate) and poly(propylene fumarate) were copolymerised with furan-functionalised crosslinkers to form networks comprising reversible Diels-Alder cycloadducts. The thermal properties of each material were analysed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), showing that the furan-maleate networks dissociated at 130 °C compared to the furan-fumarate networks which dissociated at a significantly lower temperature (100 °C). The network formed from poly(propylene maleate) using a flexible trifunctional furan crosslinker provided the largest increase in T g and T rDA, producing the highest gel fraction (99 %) and a stable plateau modulus of 10 MPa by DMA. The networks reform at ambient temperature, although the rate of formation can be increased significantly by mild heating at 65 °C. Overall, the results indicate that furan-maleate CANs behave like reference furan-maleimide networks. Thermal analysis indicated that the furan-maleate cycloadduct was retained by heating to 150 °C, whereas isomerisation of maleate to fumarate was observed after repeated heating cycles to 180 °C. Mechanical testing showed that a bond strength of almost 10 MPa was achieved using these CANs as adhesives, which could be readily modified through changes in copolymer composition.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2024.113195
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
Aston University (General)
Funding Information: A.T.S. thanks the EPSRC for a Manufacturing Fellowship (EP/R012121/1) and a Doctoral Training Partnership CASE award for J.B.D.G. Scott Bader Ltd is thanked for support of this PhD studentship and for permission to publish this work. We thank Matthew L. B
Additional Information: Crown Copyright © 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Uncontrolled Keywords: Covalent adaptable network,Dissociative,Multifunctional furans,Unsaturated polyesters,General Physics and Astronomy,Polymers and Plastics,Organic Chemistry,Materials Chemistry
Publication ISSN: 1873-1945
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the<br/>corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Last Modified: 21 Nov 2024 08:23
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2024 16:15
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.sci ... 014305724004567 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2024-07-17
Published Online Date: 2024-06-04
Accepted Date: 2024-06-03
Authors: Gregg, Jonathan B.D.
Wilson, James A. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-8005-7853)
Brown, Steven L.
Slark, Andrew T.

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