Nanostructured blockcopolymers have become the subject of a number of research projects. Cooperating with partners in the USA and Greece, researchers at the Institute of Polymer Research Dresden have studied how novel molecular architectures influence the tensile properties of polymer materials and which novel material concepts can be opened by such nanostructured blockcopolymers.

The result of the studies are multigraft copolymers of polystyrene and polyisopropene with remarkable properties. The strain at break of 2000 % exceeds clearly the value of commercial thermoplastic elastomers, and also the elasticity of the multigraft copolymers is higher than the one of commercial elastomers: Complete recovery is observed up to a strain of 500 %. To achieve the desired properties the morphology with phase separation on the nanometer scale is of crucial importance. Morphology can be tailored via the number of branching points and functionalities without changing the chemical composition of the copolymer. The nanostructured multigraft copolymers are interesting for advanced elastomeric applications, such as membrane materials and for medical engineering.

Institute of Polymer Research Dresden
Dept. Nanostructured Materials
Hohe Str. 6, 01069 Dresden
Dr. Roland Weidisch
e-mail: weidisch@ipfdd.de