CAREER: A Systematic Study of Miscible and Immiscible Polymer Blends Containing a Liquid Crystalline Polymer

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- - ~ 9702313 Dadmun In this CAREER award the effect of varying the amount of hydrogen bonding present in a polymer blend containing a liquid crystalline polymer and an amorphous polymer on its phase behavior and engineering properties will be explored. The amorphous polymer will be a copolymer where one monomer (vinyl phenol) can participate in hydrogen bonding while the other monomer can not (styrene). The amount of hydrogen bonding present between the two polymers will be systematically varied by altering the composition of the amorphous copolymer. The effect of this variation on the phase `ehavior and, consequently the engineering properties (i.e. storage and loss modulus, tensile strength, viscosity) of the blend will be determined. It is expected that the change in the amount of hydrogen bonding present will produce systems which exhibit wide range miscibility, primarily immiscibility, and systems where the miscible/immiscible window is accessible. This last system will be utilized to examine the influence of the polymer chain anisotropy of the liquid crystalline polymer on the phase decomposition kinetics. The results will provide a fundamental understanding of the physical chemistry of blends containing a liquid crystalline polymer which can be utilized in the development of novel materials with tunable properties. The preparation of undergraduate and graduate students for careers demands different emphases from an instructor/advisor. Faculty primarily interact with undergraduate students via the classroom while the maturation of graduate students involve learning in both the classroom and the laboratory. Therefore, a description of a teaching philosophy which is followed is presented. A summary of the proposed teaching philosophy is to utilize effective teacher-student interaction to insure that students learn and understand the desired curriculum; to make chemistry accessible through more everyday examples; to inspire students to think a nalytically by detailing complex relationships in lecture and in workshops; and to prepare students for a vocation by introducing them to the methods by which chemical concepts are utilized in industry via industrial visitors and trips to local chemical plants, by attacking and solving problems as groups, and by introducing them to common engineering principles. %%% The proposed research program will examine how manipulation of the microscopic structure of high performance, liquid crystalline polymers can be utilized to create new materials with target properties. It is hoped that the results will provide fundamental information which can be used to guide product development such that the desirable characteristics of liquid crystalline polymers can be efficiently exploited commercially. ***