This three-year award provides support for US-France cooperative research on dielectric studies of structure and properties of polymeric materials during cure and use. The project involves David Kranbuehl and his students at the College of William and Mary, researchers at NSF's Science and Technology Center for Higher Performance Polymeric Adhesives and Composites at Virginia Polytechnic University, and G. Boiteux and J.P. Pascault at the University of Lyon. The investigators will study model systems which focus on and isolate the topology of the various stages of thermoset cure, linear step growth, pregel formation, branching, onset of gel, network structure and glass formation. The US investigator brings to this collaboration expertise on cure process modeling and life monitoring and cure of high performance polymeric materials. This is complemented by French expertise on structure-property relationships of polymeric materials, dielectric measurements, and synthesis and formulation of polymer blends. The project will advance understanding of the relationships of molecular mobility and polarity as a molecular probe of macroscopic properties of polymeric materials.
