Although epoxy resins are used in a broad variety of applications due to their good mechanical and thermal properties, their low fracture toughness is a limitation, exhibiting brittle behavior. This study explored the potential use of imidazolium ionic liquids (IL) as toughening agents for epoxy resin based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with triethylenetetramine (TETA) as curing agent. Fracture toughness was evaluated for DGEBA-TETA epoxy resins with eleven imidazolium IL and the best results were found for the IL with the chloride anion and the shortest N-alkyl side chain, C 4 MImCl. The use of 1.0 phr of C 4 MImCl lead to the reduction of the crosslink density of the post-cured resin, resulting in the increase of 25.5% in stress intensity factor and 8.2% in tensile strength with no significant loss in other mechanical properties.
International audienceYttrium and aluminum complexes of an original pyridine-bis(phenolate) ligand have been prepared. Reactions of {ONOMe,Cumyl}Y[N(SiHMe2)2](THF)(Et2O) (1) with 1 equiv of methyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate and methyl (S,S)-lactyllactate afforded respectively {ONOMe,Cumyl}Y((R)-OCH(CH3)CH2COOMe) (2) and {ONOMe,Cumyl}Y((S,S)-OCH(CH3)CO2CH(CH3)CO2Me) (3), which are rare models of the active species in the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of β-butyrolactone (BBL) and lactide (LA), respectively. 13C NMR data for 2 and 3 indicate that, in solution, the carbonyl groups coordinate onto the yttrium centers, forming mononuclear species with six- and five-membered cycles, respectively. The aluminum compounds {ONOMe,Cumyl}Al(iPr (S)-lactate) (5), {ONOMe,Cumyl}Al((R)-OCH(CH3)CH2COOCH3) (6), and {ONOMe,Cumyl}Al((rac)-OCH(CF3)CH2CO2C2H5) (7) were prepared analogously from the parent methyl complex {ONOMe,Cumyl}AlMe (4). NMR data and the solid-state structure of 6 confirm the coordination of the carbonyl group. Yttrium compounds 1 and 2 are active initiators for the ROP of racemic LA and BBL. Their performances (activity, control of the molecular weights, tacticity) are much affected by the nature of the solvent or by the addition of just a few equivalents of pyridine. Optimal conditions are quite contrasted for the ROP of rac-LA and rac-BBL, highlighting fundamental differences between these two monomers. In the best cases, highly heterotactic PLAs (Pr up to 0.96) and syndiotactic-enriched PHB (Pr up to 0.86), with good control over the molecular weights, were obtained
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.