Toughening of Polymers by Self-Assembling Molecules

Dendron rod–coil molecules (DRCs) spontaneously assemble into birefringent gel-forming networks when added to styrene in small amounts. It is shown that DRC gel derived polystyrene (PS) has greater birefringence than the PS homopolymer when drawn under similar conditions.The dispersed DRC nanophase is responsible for a 70 % increase in impact strength over the PS homopolymer, as well as interesting fracture behavior (see Figure).