Polyether Sulfone-Based Epoxy Toughening: From Micro- to Nano-Phase Separation via PES End-Chain Modification and Process Engineering

The toughness of a high-performance thermosetting epoxy network can be greatly improved by generating polyether sulfone-based macro- to nano-scale morphologies. Two polyethersulfones (PES) which only differ by their chain-end nature have been successively investigated as potential tougheners of a high-Tg thermoset matrix based on a mixture of trifunctional and difunctional aromatic epoxies and an aromatic diamine. For a given PES content, morphologies and toughness of the resulting matrices have been tuned by changing curing conditions and put into perspective with PES chain-end nature.