Additives coupling agent functions

The book s fourth major section covers additives, including adhesion promoters, silane coupling agents, coating and colorants, dispersants and coupling agents, functional fillers for plastics, flame retardants, plasticizers, and stabilizers. 

The toughness of interfaces between immiscible amorphous polymers without any coupling agent has been the subject of a number of recent studies [15-18]. The width of a polymer/polymer interface is known to be controlled by the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter x between the two polymers. The value of x between a random copolymer and a homopolymer can be adjusted by changing the copolymer composition, so the main experimental protocol has been to measure the interface toughness between a copolymer and a homopolymer as a function of copolymer composition. In addition, the interface width has been measured by neutron reflection. Four different experimental systems have been used, all containing styrene. Schnell et al. studied PS joined to random copolymers of styrene with bromostyrene and styrene with paramethyl styrene [17,18]. Benkoski et al. joined polystyrene to a random copolymer of styrene with vinyl pyridine (PS/PS-r-PVP) [16], whilst Brown joined PMMA to a random copolymer of styrene with methacrylate (PMMA/PS-r-PMMA) [15]. The results of the latter study are shown in Fig. 9. 

With the exception of coupling agent technology, primers for structural adhesive bonding have received little theoretical treatment in the literature beyond a discussion of mechanisms of corrosion inhibition by primer additives and limited discussion about statistical techniques for primer formulation. Perhaps because of the much more widespread use and greater economic importance of corrosion-protective coatings, the design and function of primers for these systems have... 

The kinetics of the hydrolysis and condensation of organic functional trialkoxy silanes has been reported by Pohl and Osterholtz [17-19]. The silane coupling agents used as adhesion promoters [1-3] usually have a trialkoxy silane as one of the functional groups, i.e. (MeO)3Si—(CH,),—0,CC(Me)=CH2. If this attaches to a glass substrate, it will form Si—O—Si bonds or if it attaches to metal substrates, it can form M—O—Si bonds. Thus, the work described here can be applicable to providing additional understanding for those processes. 

Aluminum isopropoxide has been used for the preparation of block copolyesters [147, 148]. Tri-block poly(e-CL-b-DXO-e-CL) was prepared by the sequential addition of different monomers to a living polymerization system initiated with aluminum isopropoxide in THF or toluene solution [95]. An alternative route for the preparation of the tri-block copolymer was to react the diblock poly(e-CL-b-DXO) containing an -OH functionality at the chain end using a difunctional coupling agent such as isocyanate or acid chloride (Scheme 18). However, the molecular weights were low and full conversion of monomers was not achieved. 

Summary Silanes are used as additives in numerous examples of resin chemistry. From these progresses in two applications, mineral wool production and paper impregnation, are highlighted. In the first application, silane acts as a typical coupling agent to improve the binding between resin and fiber, whereas in the latter, silane functions as a modifier to improve surface properties of the final laminate. 

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