In order to fully understand the effect of structural design on polymer properties, a new poly phenyl sulfone based branched polymer with controlled molecular weight side chain was prepared. Three different length of poly(phenyl sulfone side-chain) ([PPSU]) with number average molecular weight of 3k, 5k and 8k were synthesized and attached to poly(arylene ether sulfone) ([PAES]) with the aim of investigating the effect of side chain length on mechanical properties , thermal stability and polymer morphology. Results showed that adding linear aromatic side chain to the backbone increases glass transition temperature from 210 °C for linear aromatic backbone to 230 °C for the comb shaped polymer due to increase in chain entanglements. In addition, stress-strain analysis showed that PAES with medium size PPSU side chain of 5k molecular weight (PAES-PPSU-5k) delivers the optimum entanglements and maximum elongation at break consequently. The optimum entanglement leads to 19.2% elongation at break for (PAES-PPSU-5k) in comparison with 3.4 % for poly(arylene ether sulfone) with shorter side chain (PAES-PPSU-3K) and 5.8% for polymer with longer side chain (PAES-PPSU-8k). In addition, chemical structure and design can significantly affect the morphology of the system of polymers. We observed an increase in activation energy for chain relaxation from 383 kJ for PAES with PPSU-5k side chain to 543 kJ for PAES-PPSU-8k. Finally the effect of side chain length on solvent confinement has been studied for future proton exchange membrane design.

Synthesis and properties of new aromatic comb shaped poly(arylene ether sulfone) with different length of poly(phenyl sulfone side-chain)

256th National Meeting (2018)

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