Formation of wormlike micelles and vesicles in thermoset resins

We report the formation of wormlike micelles and vesicles in a system of self-assembled reactive block copolymer-high temperature novolac epoxy nanocomposites. The mixtures of reactive poly(methyl acrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate)-b-polyisoprene (MG5.5kI6k) block copolymer with a commercial high temperature novolac epoxy resin (Epon 164) were cured with 4,4’-methylene aniline (MDA). Incorporating epoxy-reactive functionality in one block enables the MG5.5kI6k copolymer to template the epoxy resin. The cured materials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. Macroscopic phase separation was absent with MG5.5kI6k content up to 30 wtstructures with nanoscopic features. Vesicles were formed in the reactive block copolymer-high temperature epoxy nanocomposites containing 2.5-10 wtblock copolymer. Wormlike micelles were observed in the nanocomposites containing 20 and 30 wtcopolymer