| Abstract: | Mechanical properties of two dual-phase polymer electrolytes (DPEs), prepared from poly(styrene-co-butadiene) rubber (SBR) and poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene) rubber (NBR) latices, are studied. Both DPEs are composed of an SBR supporting phase and an ionconductive phase of NBR/lithium salt solution. The first DPE maintains a tensile strength of 0.5 MPa and elongation of 280% with an ionic conductivity of 10?3 S/cm. Although the glass transition relaxations based on the dual-phase structure are not resolved in this DPE because of the proximity of the glass transition temperatures of the SBR and NBR, the glass transition shifts to a lower temperature due to the plasticization by the lithium salt solution. In the second DPE, two distinctive glass transition relaxations, corresponding to the SBR and NBR phases, are observed in the viscoelasticity versus temperature measurement, indicating the dual-phase structure. A simple equivalent mechanical model, which is modified from the Takayanagi model, is introduced to elucidate the mechanical behavior of the dual-phase structure in the second DPE. According to this model, 8% of DPE is a mechanically continuous SBR phase in the tensile direction, which effectively gives mechanical support to the DPE. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
