Influence of nanoparticles and antioxidants on mechanical properties of titania/polydicyclopentadiene polyHIPEs: A statistical approach

Open porous Pickering poly(high internal phase emulsion) composites were prepared by ring opening metathesis polymerization of surface modified TiO2 nanoparticle stabilized dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) high internal phase emulsions. Oxidation of the double bonds in the polyDCPD chains of the resulting materials was prevented using antioxidants. Oxidation dependent variation of mechanical properties was demonstrated by applying compression tests to the resulting composite materials periodically. Periodical measurements revealed significantly reduced brittleness in the case of antioxidant containing polyHIPE composites. Furthermore, it was determined that the initial compression moduli and the compressive strengths of the resulting materials were significantly improved by using antioxidants as compared to antioxidant free samples. Moreover, increasing nanoparticle amount was found to have a beneficial effect with the presence of antioxidants. The relationship between the compression modulus with nanoparticle loading and different types of antioxidants was revealed by developing model regression equations and graphs. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.