Studying the heterogeneity of crosslinked polymer networks

Thin polymer coatings are important as they protect vital metal infrastructure (bridges, buildings, boats and planes) that would otherwise rust/corrode. The majority of these are based on epoxy oligomers that are crosslinked via a curing reaction to form a continuous insoluble polymer network. The misconception that no water at all is able to permeate these polymer coating means that we must adjust how we think about these coatings. We know from polymer physics that the energy penalty driving phase separation scales with polymerization index N. In these polymer networks we suspect that phase separation is important in determining the properties of diffusion, percolation and uptake of water in these layers. In this proposal we plan to use deuterated DGEBA and SANS to study where the water is localised in these polymer networks and understand the length scale of phase separation.