Abstract:
Methods of vulcanization using a high content sulfur polymer, instead of elemental sulfur, have been developed. These high sulfur content polymers are referred to as Chalcogenide Hybrid Inorganic/Organic Polymers (CHIP) materials and have good polymer compatibility in that they are soluble in a number of polymers. Furthermore, CHIP materials may have weaker bonds than the S-S bonds of elemental sulfur and thus provide for a higher crosslinking efficiency vulcanization.
Abstract:
An iterative approach to dynamic covalent polymerizations of elemental sulfur with functional comonomers to prepare sulfur prepolymers that can further reacted with other conventional, commercially available comonomers to prepare a wider class of functional sulfur polymers. This iterative method improves handling, miscibility and solubility of the elemental sulfur, and further enables tuning of the sulfur polymer composition. The sulfur polymers may be a thermoplastic or a thermoset for use in elastomers, resins, lubricants, coatings, antioxidants, cathode materials for electrochemical cells, and polymeric articles such as polymeric films and free-standing substrates.