writer：Zhi-Bo Wei, Rui Bai, Fa-Ai Zhang
keywords：Mesoporous silica SBA-15, PMMA, composites, solution polymerization
source：期刊
specific source：Iranian Polymer Journal
Issue time：2013年

Ordered mesoporous material SBA-15 was considered as a promising reinforcement agent for polymeric materials due to its large surface area and uniform pore structure. In this paper, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/SBA-15 composites were prepared by in-situ free-radical solution polymerization of MMA in the presence of SBA-15. The effects of SBA-15 amounts on the solution polymerization and the properties of the resulted polymer composite were investigated. The molecular weight and its distribution of the PMMA/SBA-15 composites were determined by gel permeation chromatography. Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-Ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimeter and dynamic mechanical analysis were used to characterize the structure and properties of the composites. The morphology of the composites was observed with scanning electric microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results demonstrated that the monomer conversion dropped off but average molecular weight increased upon the introduction of the SBA-15 to the solution polymerization system. Compared with pure PMMA, the storage modulus of the composites was improved and the highest improvement was found at 1 wt.% of SBA-15, based on the monomer. The glass transition temperatures of the composites were increased a little. TGA results confirmed that the thermal stability of the composite was not influenced much and the higher amount of terminal vinyl groups was formed in the polymerization. SEM and TEM images indicated that SBA-15 particles were incorporated into the polymer matrix.