Anna Constantinou
Imperial College London, UK
Title: Thermo-responsive ABC triblock terpolymers for 3-D printing
Biography
Biography: Anna Constantinou
Abstract
Thermo-responsive polymers which respond to the temperature by forming physical gels are popular candidates for 3-D printing. The sol phase facilitates the loading of the polymer-containing ink into the needle, whereas the gel phase contributes to the maintenance of the formed 3-D structure. In this project, thermo-responsive ABC triblock copolymers polymers were synthesised via group transfer polymerisation (GTP). The A, B, and C blocks were based on a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) methacrylate, n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA), and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). Three different PEG based monomers were used as the A block; di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate, penta(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate, and nona(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate, which are abbreviated as DEGMA, PEGMA, and NEGMA, respectively. Systematic studies of the composition as well as the length of PEG side group were carried out. Three different compositions as well as three different PEG based monomers were used, resulting in nine ABC triblock copolymers. The molecular weight (MW) and the architecture were kept constant. Their values were determined by previous studies carried out by the group which showed that these parameters induce the clearest sol-gel transition. The effect of the PEG side group length and the composition on the thermoresponsive behaviour of the resulted polymers was investigated. Both parameters proved to affect the sol-gel transition. More specifically, the thermo-responsive behaviour was favoured by decreasing the PEG side group length and by increasing the hydrophobic content, as expected.