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Research Zernike (ZIAM) News Colloquia

Zernike Colloquium: Ludwig Leibler- From glass to vitrimers: a story of exchangeable links

When:Th 10-01-2019 16:00 - 17:00
Where:Lecture Hall: 5111.0080

Ludwig Leibler

École Supérieure de Physique et

de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris

Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) Research University

Paris, France

During cooling, amorphous silica, the archetype glass-former gradually increases its viscosity over a wide temperature range and it becomes so viscous that for all practical purposes it behaves like a hard solid, the glass. In striking contrast and without exception all organic glass-formers

increase their viscosity and rigidify very abruptly when cooled. Moreover, silica is not soluble. We imagined, vitrimers, organic materials that undergo gradual glass transition and are not soluble just like silica. Vitrimers are molecular networks that through thermo-activated exchange reactions are able tochange their topology without changing the total number of bonds. Solid at low temperatures and malleable when heated yet insoluble whatever the temperature, vitrimers constitute the third class of polymers along with thermoplastics and thermosets (elastomers).

Firstvitrimerswere made from epoxy resins. Today most plastics and rubbers can be transformed intovitrimers. Sincevitrimerscan be shaped, assembled, repaired and recycled while showing exquisite chemical and thermomechanical resistance they could rapidly find applications in electronics, automotive, airplane, and coatings industries. And as for inorganic glass-formers, the question whether amorphous silica is avitrimeropens intriguing perspectives