This book examines the current state of the art, new challenges, opportunities, and applications of IPNs. With contributions from experts across the globe, this survey is an outstanding resource reference for anyone involved in the field of polymer materials design for advanced technologies. • Comprehensively summarizes many of the recent technical research accomplishments in the area of micro and nanostructured Interpenetrating Polymer Networks • Discusses various aspects of synthesis, characterization, structure, morphology, modelling, properties, and applications of IPNs • Describes how nano-structured IPNs correlate their multiscale structure to their properties and morphologies • Serves as a one-stop reference resource for important research accomplishments in the area of IPNs and nano-structured polymer systems • Includes chapters from leading researchers in the IPN field from industry, academy, government and private research institutions

There has been a tremendous recent interest in the development of second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) polymeric materials for photonic applications. However, a major drawback of second-order NLO polymers that prevents them from being used in device applications is the instability of their electric field induced dipolar alignment. The randomization of the dipole orientation leads to the decay of second-order optical nonlinearities. Numerous efforts have been made to increase the stability of the second-order NLO properties of polymers. The search for new approaches to develop NLO polymers with optimal properties has been an active research area since the past decade. A novel approach, combining the hybrid properties of high glass transition temperatures, extensively crosslinked networks, and permanent entanglements, based on interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) is introduced to develop stable second-order NLO materials. Two types of IPN systems are prepared and their properties are investigated. The designing criteria and the rationale for the selection of polymers are discussed. The IPN samples show excellent temporal stability at elevated temperatures. Long term stability of the optical nonlinearity at 100 C has been observed in these materials. Temporal stability of the NLO properties of these IPNs is synergistically enhanced. Relaxation behavior of the optical nonlinearity of an IPN system has been studied and compared with that of a typical guest/host system. The improved temporal stability of the second-order NLO properties of this IPN system is a result of the combination of the high rigidity of the polymer backbones, crosslinked matrices, and permanent entanglements of the polymer networks. A slight modification of the chemical structure resulted in an improvement of the optical quality of the sample.

Polymeric materials with second order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties are of much interest for applications such as waveguide electrooptic modulation and frequency doubling devices. These NLO properties are presented when the chromophores are aligned in a noncentrosymmetric manner. The alignment of NLO chromophores in the poled polymers must be sufficiently stable at temperatures above 100 deg C in order to use them in practical devices. Several approaches have been adopted to enhance the temporal stability of the poled polymers. Enhanced temporal stability of second order NLO properties in several poled polymer systems has been achieved by crosslinking reactions. The resulting crosslinked network has a higher glass transition temperature and a denser matrix which prevent the aligned NLO chromophores from relaxing to a random orientation. However, slow decay of second order NLO properties at elevated temperatures was still observed in the polymers. Furthermore, the general form of the relaxation curves for the crosslinking polymers do not appear to be distinctly different from those for the guest/host systems. We have selected an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) containing aligned NLO chromophores to test these issues. An IPN is a structure in which two or more networks are physically combined. The IPN is known to be able to remarkably suppress the creep and flow phenomena in polymers. Permanent entanglement of the two polymer chains restrict their mobility which leads to a significantly more stable NLO material. In this paper, we report on the design, synthesis and characterization of an NLO active IPN ... Interpenetrating polymer network, Nonlinear optical polymer.

To the surprise of practically no one, research and engineering on multi polymer materials has steadily increased through the 1960s and 1970s. More and more people are remarking that we are running out of new monomers to polymerize, and that the improved polymers of the future will depend heavily on synergistic combinations of existing materials. In the era of the mid-1960s, three distinct multipolymer combinations were recognized: polymer blends, grafts, and blocks. Although inter penetrating polymer networks, lPNs, were prepared very early in polymer history, and already named by Millar in 1960, they played a relatively low-key role in polymer research developments until the late 1960s and 1970s. I would prefer to consider the IPNs as a subdivision of the graft copolymers. Yet the unique topology of the IPNs imparts properties not easily obtainable without the presence of crosslinking. One of the objectives of this book is to point out the wealth of work done on IPNs or closely related materials. Since many papers and patents actually concerned with IPNs are not so designated, this literature is significantly larger than first imagined. It may also be that many authors will meet each other for the first time on these pages and realize that they are working on a common topology. The number of applications suggested in the patent literature is large and growing. Included are impact-resistant plastics, ion exchange resins, noise-damping materials, a type of thermoplastic elastomer, and many more.