Multiarm star poly(glycidol)-block-poly(styrene) as modifier of anionically cured diglycidylether of bisphenol A thermosetting coatings

Abstract Well-defined multiarm star copolymer poly(glycidol)- b -poly(styrene) (PGOH- b -PS) with an average number of PS arms per molecule of 85 has been prepared. The core first approach has been selected as the methodology using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of styrene to grow the arms from an activated hyperbranched poly(glycidol) as core. This activated hyperbranched macroinitiator was prepared by esterification of hyperbranched poly(glycidol) (PGOH) with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide. PGOH- b -PS was used to modify diglycidylether of bisphenol A coatings cured by anionic ring-opening mechanism using 1-methyl imidazole as the initiator. The kinetics of the curing process, studied by dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC), was not much affected when PGOH- b -PS was added to the formulation. By rheometry the effect of this new polymer topology on the complex viscosity ( η * ) of the reactive mixture was analyzed. The phase-separation of the modified coatings was proved by dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMTA) and electronic microscopy (SEM and TEM) showing nano- or microphase separation as a function of the modifier content. The addition of this star polymer led to increase in the rigidity in terms of Young's modulus and in the microhardness in comparison to neat DGEBA.