Probing the length scales and structuring in protective polymer films

Polymer based barrier coatings are important, they are effective, thin, versatile, and inexpensive relative to the materials they protect. We would like to have much better insight into how the physics and chemical composition of the polymer matrix network links to the overall coating properties and performance. In this proposal we plan to study water transport in the polymer resin matrix using a combination of SANS and SESANS. We will examine the density distributions in pure/filled epoxy resins as they are swollen with various H2O/D2O contrasts. We hope to see measure the density autocorrelation function and extract the length scale distributions for these materials. When we load these with increasing volume fraction of silica fillers, we want to see how this hybrid material structures. This information will provide key insight into how water transport occurs within these layers.