Polymer gels have applications in many areas including drug delivery, food, cosmetics, and tissue engineering. Investigation of self-assembly, mechanical, and thermal properties of thermoreversible, triblock copolymers in mid-block selective solvents are of significant interest. Here, we consider a triblock copolymer composed of poly (methyl methacrylate)–poly (n-butyl acrylate)–poly (methyl methacrylate) [PMMA–PnBA-PMMA] in mid-block selective solvents, butanol and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol. The solubility of PMMA end-blocks changes significantly with temperature, and with decreasing temperature the end-blocks aggregates to form a three dimensional network. The PMMA aggregates behave like bulk polymer and display glass transition temperature. The rheological investigations capture the change of viscoelastic properties of these gels as a function of temperature and polymer concentration. The evolution of structure from liquid state to gel state was captured using small angle neutron scattering (SANS).

Effect of temperature and concentration on self-assembly and mechanical properties of triblock copolymer gels

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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