BisGMA/Thermoplastic Polymer Blends: A Study of Mechanical and Corrosive Properties

Abstract

Abstract

The objective of this work is to synthesize various blends of Bisphenol-A-glycidyldimethacrylate (BisGMA) resin with different proportions of thermoplastic polymers like poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and poly-ethyleneoxazoline (PEOZ) and to study their mechanical and corrosive properties. The experimental results showed that BisGMA/PVP and BisGMA/PEOZ blends displayed an improvement in the mechanical properties over unmodified BisGMA resin and the 50:50 blend system is the optimum blend composition in both BisGMA/PVP and BisGMA/PEOZ blends. Then further, a comparative study of mechanical and corrosive properties between pure BisGMA, BGP₅₀ and BGPO₅₀ has been made. All the mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile stress, Young’s Modulus and elongation at break are determined using the universal testing machine (UTM) and impact strength has been determined using the IZOD test. Water absorption capacity of blends and corrosion test has also been carried out which suggests that the blends can be used in saline and corroded environment. This provides an advantage for the blends to be used in different types of structural composites with high mechanical strength.

Keywords: BisGMA, polymer blend, mechanical properties, water absorption capacity, corrosion tests.