Effect of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) Substituents on the Rheological Behavior in Butyl Methacrylate/POSS Copolymers

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane POSS has generated much interest in the development of novel nanomaterials. The organic groups attached to the silicon atoms in the POSS cage can serve many different functions. It has been shown that POSS copolymers exhibit different rheological properties when the organic group is changed in a copolymer. In this work, we examine the effects of varying the organic groups R c-C5H9 denoted as Cp, i-C4H9 i-Bu, C3H4F3 FPr on propylmethacryl POSS molecule copolymerized with n-butyl methacrylate. i-Bu groups increase the free volume in the copolymer whereas the Cp and FPr groups appear to interact thereby reinforcing the soft polymer.