Advances in interpenetrating polymer networks

Abstract

We review briefly the synthesis, morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) as well as the related pseudo interpenetrating polymer networks, in which only one of the polymer constituents is crosslinked. Recent studies have shown that the degree of phase separation achieved in these materials is strongly dependent on the degree of compatibility of blends of the linear polymer constituents of the IPN components. We illustrate this by detailed comparisons of two classes of full and pseudo interpenetrating polymer networks. The first is formed from a polyurethane-acrylic copolymer whose components are relatively incompatible and the second series is formed from poly(2, 6-dimethyl-1, 4-phenylene oxide)-polystyrene which form compatible blends over essentially the whole composition range. We conclude with a brief discussion of future directions for our work. © 1981 IUPAC.