Covalent adaptable networks (CANs), are smart crosslinked polymers with the ability to reconfigure the underlying network on command and respond to external stimuli to trigger a shape change or network rearrangement. These smart materials, have the potential to be applied in many exciting new areas, driven by the various chemistries used to form them. Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT), as a type of reactions for forming CANs, a technique originally developed for controlled radical polymerization, involves reversible bond exchange mediated by a chain-transfer agent (CTA). Herein we investigated expanding the uses of RAFT by incorporation of the CTA into the backbone of glassy polymer network which enables photochemically initiated network rearrangement and leads to alleviate stress arises in polymeric materials as bonds are broken and reformed. Not only does this network relaxation occur with externally applied mechanical stimulus; it also mitigates stress developed as a result of polymerization shrinkage during photocuring. We also have further employed the in situ stress relaxation during mechanical loading of composites in fully cured, glassy polymeric material, to improve their overall mechanical performance.

Application of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) in covalent adaptable networks (CANs)

254th National Meeting (2017)

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