Stronger aramids through molecular design and nanoprocessing

We introduce oligo-(1,6-pyrene terephthalamide, oPyrTA ) as an oligoamide model for Kevlar®. Through comparison with an oligo-( p -phenylene terephthalamide, oPTA ) of similar molecular weight, this work shows that the incorporation of polycyclic aromatic pyrene moieties improves drastically the mec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymer chemistry 2020-02, Vol.11 (8), p.1489-1495
Main Authors: Rapakousiou, Amalia, López-Moreno, Alejandro, Nieto-Ortega, Belén, Bernal, M. Mar, Monclús, Miguel A, Casado, Santiago, Navío, Cristina, González, Luisa R, Fernández-Blázquez, Juan P, Vilatela, Juan J, Pérez, Emilio M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aramid fibers
Hardness
Kevlar (trademark)
Mechanical properties
Modulus of elasticity
Nanofibers
Nanoindentation
Polymer chemistry
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Summary:We introduce oligo-(1,6-pyrene terephthalamide, oPyrTA ) as an oligoamide model for Kevlar®. Through comparison with an oligo-( p -phenylene terephthalamide, oPTA ) of similar molecular weight, this work shows that the incorporation of polycyclic aromatic pyrene moieties improves drastically the mechanical properties of the structure, increasing elastic nanoindentation-determined modulus and hardness by factors of 1.9 and 4.3, respectively. Liquid deprotonated dispersions of oPyrTA nanofibers were used as nanoscale building blocks for producing large-surface, free-standing oligomer macroscopic nanofilms. This 2D assembly leads to further significant improvements in reduced modulus and hardness (more than twice) compared to the starting oligomer macroscale fibres, due to a better re-organizational arrangement of the oPyrTA nanofibers in the nanofilms, formed under 2D spatial confinement. We describe how to build ultrastrong polymeric nanofilms through a combination of molecular design and nanostructuration.
ISSN:1759-9954
1759-9962
DOI:10.1039/c9py01599j