PSEUDO INTERPENETRATING POLYMER NETWORKS AND INTERPENETRATING POLYMERNETWORKS OF ZEOLITE-13-X AND POLYSTYRENE AND POLY(ETHYL-ACRYLATE)

Free-radical polymerization of liquid styrene and ethyl acrylate with or without ethylene dimethacrylate crosslinker in the presence of zeol ite 13 X produces interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN's) or pseudo IPN's in which polymer chains have grown and filled internal pores of the zeolite. A variety of methods of characterization including, solub ility studies, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning elect ron microscopy (SEM), C-13 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR ) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) provide supporting evidence for this. The polymer chains within the internal pores do not exhibit a bulk glass transition. This si part of a larger study of the glass t ransition of polymers confined to cavities or pores of various sizes.