화학공학소재연구정보센터
Macromolecules, Vol.49, No.10, 3919-3924, 2016
Local and Global Dynamics in Polypropylene Glycol/Silica Composites
The local segmental and global dynamics of a series of polypropylene glycol/silica nanocomposites were studied using rheometry and mechanical and dielectric spectroscopies. The particles cause substantial changes in the rheology, including higher viscosities that become non Newtonian and the appearance of stress overshoots in the transient shear viscosity. However, no change was observed in the mean relaxation times for either the segmental or normal mode dynamics measured dielectrically. This absence of an effect of the particles is due to masking of the interfacial response by polymer chains remote from the particles. When the unattached polymer was extracted to isolate the interfacial material, very large reductions in both the local and global relaxation times were measured. This speeding up of the dynamics is due in part to the reduced density at the interface, presumably a consequence of poorer packing of tethered chains. In addition, binding of the ether oxygens of the polypropylene glycol truncates the normal mode, which contributes an additional shift of the corresponding relaxation peak to higher frequencies.