Nanostructured polyurethane/POSS hybrid aqueous dispersions prepared by homogeneous solution polymerization

Aqueous polyurethane dispersions were prepared with 4-10 wt% of functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) via homogeneous solution polymerization in acetone followed by solvent exchange with water. The use of acetone as the initial polymerization solvent allowed for the facile incorporation of both diamino and dihydroxy functional POSS monomers in a homogeneous reaction environment. After addition of water and removal of the acetone, stable dispersions with unimodal particle sizes were obtained. The incorporation of the POSS monomers did not have a significant effect on the dispersion's properties; however, the physical properties of the isolated polymers did display significant changes, with notable increases in storage modulus, T-g, complex viscosity, and surface hydrophobicity. These changes were attributed to the incorporation of the POSS residues into the polyurethane hard segment domains found. Though no sign of any gross phase heterogeneity due to the inclusion of POSS moieties was detected by either thermal characterization or wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), a significant change was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) when the samples were recast from organic solvent.