Novel functional polymers: Poly(dimethyl siloxane)–polyamide multiblock copolymers. XI. The effects of sequence regularity on the thermal and mechanical properties

Abstract

Abstract Poly(aramid silicone) (PAS) multiblock copolymers were synthesized by the low‐temperature solution polycondensation of isophthaloyl dichloride (IPC) and two diamines, diamino poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS; number‐average molecular weight = 1680) and 3,4′‐diaminodiphenylether (3,4′‐DAPE), in tetrahydrofuran/dimethylacetamide (2/1 v/v). Two synthetic methods for the control of the PAS sequence were used: a one‐step synthesis that presumably gave PAS with a random sequence and the polymerization of 3,4′‐DAPE with a presynthesized dimer, IPC–PDMS–IPC (two‐step synthesis), that presumably gave PAS with an alternating sequence of 3,4′‐DAPE and PDMS segments. In a 1 H NMR study of the amide protons of the 3,4′‐DAPE component in PAS, the relative length of the 3,4′‐DAPE segment of randomly sequenced PAS to that of ideally sequenced PAS could be estimated. The glass‐transition temperatures of the 3,4′‐DAPE and PDMS segments of random PAS were 152–234 and −104 to −117 °C, respectively, whereas the alternating PAS sequences showed no glass transition for the 3,4′‐DAPE segments. A tensile test indicated that randomly sequenced PAS behaved like a rubber‐toughened material at lower PDMS contents and like a thermoplastic elastomer at higher PDMS contents, whereas the alternately sequenced PAS behaved like a very soft rubber, showing a high value of elongation at the breaking point. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 841–852, 2003