Ion-containing polymers and their role in optical properties, surface modification and blending

Three roles of ionic groups present in ion containing polymers or ionomers have been investigated, both chemically and spectroscopically. The first involves the synthesis and near infrared optical properties or lanthanide ionomers. The second is their introduction, along with other functional groups, when surfaces of polyolefins are modified using a new surface modification method and the third is their role in polymer blending.; Ethylene-co-acrylic and ethylene-co-methacrylic acid copolymers were completely exchanged with trivalent ions such as Dy{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub},{dollar} Er{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub},{dollar} Sm{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub},{dollar} Tb{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub},{dollar} Tm{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub},{dollar} Yb{dollar}sp{lcub}3+{rcub}{dollar} and mixtures of them. These ionomers were studied in the near infrared region by reflectance and by FT-Raman spectroscopic techniques. When excited at 1.064{dollar}mu{dollar} by a Nd:YAG laser these ionomers exhibit novel lanthanide dependent, near infrared luminescence and strong Raman scattering in the infrared region. The rare earth ions were found to cluster for ion concentrations of 1 mol.% and higher from SAXS measurements. This clustering leads to interesting optical energy transfer properties between the rare earth ions and could have possible applications for frequency upconversion from the infrared to the visible range.; Ethylene copolymers, polymerized using a constrained geometry catalyst as well as other polyolefins were surface modified using dimethyl and trifluoromethyl dioxirane. Infrared spectroscopy was used to determine the nature and extent of oxidation. The oxidized products contain a mixture of carboxylic acid, ketone, alcohol and epoxy functional groups. Contact angle measurements showed an increase in the surface energy of the oxidized material as well as a decrease in the value for the contact angle with water. Trifluoromethyl dioxirane was found to oxidize these ethylene copolymers to a greater extent in comparison to conventional oxidation agents such as chromic acid.; Infrared spectroscopy was used to study in detail, the polymer-metal interactions in blends of polyamide-6 and alkali ionomers sulfonated polystyrene. It was observed that these polymers were miscible on a molecular level when the counterion was Li{dollar}sp+,{dollar} although blending to the same extent was not observed for Na{dollar}sp+{dollar} as the counterion. A model to explain the process of blending on a molecular level is proposed.