Interfaces in polymer nanocomposites - An NMR study

Abstract

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is applied for the investigation of polymer nanocomposites. Solid-state NMR is applied to study the modification steps to compatibilize layered double hydroxides with non-polar polymers. 1H relaxation NMR gives insight on the polymer dynamics over a wide range of correlation times. For the polymer chain dynamics the transverse relaxation time T2 is most suited. In this presentation we report on two applications of T2 measurements under external mechanical stress. In a low-field system relaxation NMR studies are performed in-situ under uniaxial stress. High-temperature experiments in a Couette cell permit the investigation of the polymer dynamics in the melt under shear flow.