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

--~9702313 Dadmun在这一职业奖中，将探索在包含液晶聚合物和非晶态聚合物的聚合物混合物中改变氢键量对其相行为和工程性质的影响。这种无定形聚合物将是一种共聚物，其中一个单体(乙烯基酚)可以参与氢键，而另一个单体(苯乙烯)不能参与氢键。通过改变无定形共聚物的组成，两种聚合物之间存在的氢键量将被系统地改变。将确定这种变化对共混物的相行为的影响，从而确定共混物的工程性质(即储存和损耗模数、拉伸强度、粘度)。预计存在的氢键量的变化将产生表现出大范围混溶的体系，主要是不混溶，以及其中可混溶/不混溶窗口可访问的体系。最后一个系统将被用来考察液晶聚合物的高分子链各向异性对相分解动力学的影响。这一结果将使人们对含有液晶聚合物的共混物的物理化学有一个基本的了解，这可用于开发具有可调性能的新型材料。本科生和研究生的就业准备要求讲师/导师的侧重点不同。教师主要通过课堂与本科生互动，而研究生的成熟包括在课堂和实验室学习。因此，本文提出了一种遵循的教学理念。建议的教学理念的摘要是利用有效的师生互动来确保学生学习和理解所需的课程；通过更多的日常例子使化学变得易懂；通过在讲座和研讨会上详细描述复杂的关系来启发学生进行分析思考；通过工业访客和当地化工厂的旅行向学生介绍工业中使用化学概念的方法，通过集体攻击和解决问题，并通过向他们介绍共同的工程原理，为学生做好职业准备。%拟议的研究计划将研究如何利用对高性能液晶聚合物微观结构的操纵来创造具有目标性能的新材料。希望这些结果能为指导产品开发提供基础信息，从而使液晶聚合物的理想特性能够被有效地商业化利用。***

- - ~ 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. ***