D. A. Thomas

Morphology and Mechanical Behavior of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks

The synthesis and morphology of IPN’s are compared to the several other methods of preparing blends of distinguishable polymer pairs. Both components of IPN’s are continuous throughout, the very finely divided phase domain dimensions being controlled by the crosslink density.

Poly(Butadiene-Co-Styrene)/Polystyrene IPN’s, Semi-IPN’s and Graft Copolymers: Staining Behavior and Morphology

Since the synthesis of interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN’s) in this laboratory in 1967,(1) the existence and importance of two-phase morphologies have become increasingly apparent.(2,3) A close relationship to graft copolymers has also been recognized. The research reported here is the first systematic study of the morphological relationships between IPN’s and graft copolymers of the solution graft type. Because of the critical role of staining in revealing morphologies on the 100 A scale, we have studied the kinetics of OsO4 staining as well.