(121k) Balancing Processing and Performance in Commercial Ionomers

It has long been argued that introducing associating groups, including ionic interactions, can be used to greatly increase the mechanical properties and other performance characteristics of a given polymer backbone. The trade-off is that the presence of strong associating groups greatly impact the processing behavior of these polymers. Overall, there is a balance between associating polymer properties and processability. In this work we demonstrate the impact of strong ionic interactions on the linear viscoelasticity and non-linear extensional rheology of commercial ethylene-methacrylic acid co-polymers. We show that for the same backbone, ionomers are much more difficult to process than their parent co-polymers with little increase in the mechanical properties of interest. Furthermore, our data suggest that regardless of association strength, the presence of entanglements in ionomers increases their processability. With this work we hope to gain insight into the development of highly processable ionomers with superior properties. Using this insight, we can further explore associating polymers with unique characteristics, such as self-healing and adhesive properties.