Morphology and properties of gels and xerogels based on the high-molecular-mass poly(acrylonitrile)-propylene carbonate system

Thermosensitive reversible gels were obtained in the high-molecular-mass poly(acrylomthie)-propylene carbonate system using various temperature-time regimes of phase separation. Study of the gel morphology showed that the samples represent highly porous systems with the pore size differing by more than two orders of magnitude, depending on the phase separation conditions; the minimum pore size is about 0.1 mm. Removal of the solvent results in the formation of xerogels retaining the initial gel morphology. Xerogel samples having a minimum pore size exhibit the maximum deformability (draw ratio up to λ = 50-60). The corresponding highly-oriented samples possess maximum values of the ultimate strength (0.7 GPa) and elastic modulus (19 GPa).