Polymer Brush Coating and Adhesion Technology at Scale

Abstract

<jats:p>Creating strong joints between dissimilar materials for high-performance hybrid products places high demands on modern adhesives. Traditionally, adhesion relies on the compatibility between surfaces, often requiring the use of primers and thick bonding layers to achieve stable joints. The coatings of polymer brushes enable the compatibilization of material surfaces through precise control over surface chemistry, facilitating strong adhesion through a nanometer-thin layer. Here, we give a detailed account of our research on adhesion promoted by polymer brushes along with examples from industrial applications. We discuss two fundamentally different adhesive mechanisms of polymer brushes, namely (1) physical bonding via entanglement and (2) chemical bonding. The former mechanism is demonstrated by e.g., the strong bonding between poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) brush coated stainless steel and bulk PMMA, while the latter is shown by e.g., the improved adhesion between silicone and titanium substrates, functionalized by a hydrosilane-modified poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) brush. This review establishes that the clever design of polymer brushes can facilitate strong bonding between metals and various polymer materials or compatibilize fillers or nanoparticles with otherwise incompatible polymeric matrices. To realize the full potential of polymer brush functionalized materials, we discuss the progress in the synthesis of polymer brushes under ambient and scalable industrial conditions, and present recent developments in atom transfer radical polymerization for the large-scale production of brush-modified materials.</jats:p>

The Bonding Mechanism of the Micro-Interface of Polymer Coated Steel

“…According to previous research, the first principles of quantum mechanics (QM) and molecular dynamics (MD) have become advantageous tools for studying the interaction mechanism between metals and non-metals [21][22][23][24]. MD can simulate the interaction law between atoms in a defined complex system on the atomic scale [25][26][27][28]. QM can study the motion law of microscopic particles in the material world.…”

Mechanical Properties of Polymer Coatings Applied to Fabric

“…The most commonly used, spraying or padding, significantly change the structure and properties of the surface layer of fabrics, used for conventional and high-tech applications in life. In order to achieve high adhesion in the polymer composition deposited on the fabric surface, the gas-dynamic method is increasingly used [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]; this way provides, in increasing forms of stability, parts of garments made of fabric or leather by application of the direct method of stabilization of surfaces by polymer compositions, in particular polymer composition based on waste of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [ 19 ]. Various ways are usually used to combine the gas and liquid phase transfer and functionality of equipment into coated textiles.…”

“…As we consider the polymer to be an elastic body, the amount of energy of its fixation is determined from [ 16 ]. If the tangential strain stresses are characterized by the allowable value of adhesive strength under critical deformation conditions, we obtain the following: where…”

“…Polymers 2020, 12, 2684 7 of 13 Using ( 13), ( 14), (16), and ( 18) in (19), the value of the fixing force can be determined:…”

Synthesis of Polymer Brushes by Surface-Initiated Controlled/Living Free Radical Polymerization Techniques

“…P olymer brushes become more popular due to their potential applications in multiple fields, such as surface modifications [1][2][3][4], biomedical engineering [5][6][7][8], etc. They are densely grafted polymer chains with one end attached to the surface or interface of silicon wafers, glass, gold particles or polymer substrates [9][10][11].…”