Glycerol was chosen to plasticize the sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) ionomers, and their dynamic and steady shear responses were analyzed in detail to evaluate the melt rheological properties. The incorporated polar glycerol molecules dissolve the ionic clusters, thus leading to the decrease of modulus, viscosity and relaxation time and the disappearance of rubbery plateau in G' and loss peak in G'. Effects of glycerol plasticization on the viscoelastic behaviors of SPS ionomers is more remarkable for the ionomers with stronger ionic associations and lower plasticizer content. The plasticized SPS ionomers exhibit predominantly elastic behavior at low frequency due to the networks formed by glycerol molecules. The flow curves of the plasticized SPS ionomers show pseudoplastic behaviors after shear yielding, with the breakage of ionic clusters and enhancement of chain mobility. With the increase of glycerol concentration, the dynamic modulus of SPS ionomers drops linearly, while the shear viscosity decreases exponentially.

Viscoelastic behaviors of sulfonated polystyrene ionomers plasticized by glycerol

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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