Tailoring the mechanical and thermal properties of dicyclopentadiene polyHIPEs with the use of a comonomer

Abstract

The effect of adding a comonomer to dicyclopentadiene in high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) on the properties of ring-opening metathesis polymerisation (ROMP) derived polyHIPEs has been investigated. With this aim, dicylopentadiene was copolymerised with norbornene in surfactant stabilized high internal phase emulsions. Morphological, mechanical and thermal properties of the resulting materials were investigated with regard to the monomer ratio. The interconnected pore structure was observed for the resulting poly(dicylopentadiene-co-norbornene) polyHIPEs. Furthermore, the new polyHIPE copolymers were found to have an improved thermal stability compared to the poly(dicylopentadiene) homopolymer.

Keywords

• Mechanical properties
• emulsion templating
• polyHIPE
• dicyclopentadiene
• norbornene