Design of nonaqueous polymer gels with broad temperature performance: Impact of solvent quality and processing conditions

Polymer gels have potential use for a wide variety of applications, primarily due to the ability to tailor the gel properties by varying several material parameters. While substantial attention has focused on water-based hydrogels, the use of these materials is limited due to a narrow operational temperature range. This report describes a nonaqueous polymer gel, composed of a cross-linked polybutadiene network swollen with low volatility polymer plasticizers. Thermal, mechanical, and adhesive characterization illustrated that the gels exhibit performance over an extremely broad temperature range (−60–70 °C). Solvent quality and loading played a critical role in the operational temperature window with small solvent solubility parameter deviations dramatically reducing the operational temperature range. In addition, the processing conditions had a large impact on the gel mechanical properties. As a result, it is important to consider the influence of processing conditions and solvent quality when tailoring polymer gels for practical applications.