Study of the formation of the open-cellular morphology of poly(styrene/divinylbenzene) polyHIPE materials by cryo-SEM

N. R. Cameron, D. C. Sherrington, L. Albiston, D. P. Gregory

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241 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The formation of the interconnected morphology of open-cell styrene/divinylbenzene (DVB) PolyHIPE copolymers has been studied by scanning electron microscopy on frozen HIPE samples at different stages of polymerisation, a technique known as cryo-SEM. The transition from discrete emulsion droplets to interconnected cells was observed to occur around the gel-point of the polymerising system. This would suggest that the formation of holes between adjacent cells is due to the contraction of the thin monomeric films on conversion of monomer to polymer, as a result of the higher density of the latter.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)592-595
Number of pages4
JournalColloid and Polymer Science
Volume274
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 1996
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cryo-SEM
  • Open-cell
  • PolyHIPE
  • Styrene/divinylbenzene copolymers

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