A Novel Approach to Processing High‐Performance Polymers that Exploits Entropically Driven Ring‐Opening Polymerization

Summary:Blends of the poly(ether sulfone) derived from 4,4′‐biphenol and 4,4′‐dichlorodiphenylsulfone (Radel‐R™) with its homologous macrocyclic oligomers show greatly lowered melt viscosities relative to that of the parent polymer, potentially enabling more facile production and fabrication of fiber‐reinforced composite materials. The macrocycles can then undergo entropically driven ring‐opening polymerization in situ. The required blends can be obtained easilyin one step, by carrying out polycondensations at concentrations lower than those usually used for polymer synthesis. Percentage of MCOs5in the product as a function of total monomer concentration. image Percentage of MCOs5in the product as a function of total monomer concentration.