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MDPI, Polymers, 12(9), p. 61, 2017

DOI: 10.3390/polym9020061

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Characterization of Comb-Shaped Copolymers by Multidetection SEC, DLS and SANS

Journal article published in 2017 by Giulia Gelardi, Nicolas Sanson ORCID, Gergely Nagy ORCID, Robert J. Flatt ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

PolyCarboxylate ether-based superplasticizers (PCEs) are a type of comb-shaped copolymers used as polymeric dispersants in cementitious materials. PCEs have a high degree of dispersity, which limits the suitability of conventional characterization techniques, such as Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC). Properties of PCEs strongly depend on their molecular structure and a comprehensive characterization is needed to fully understand the structure–property relationships. PCEs with well-defined molecular structures were synthesized to study their solution conformation by SEC and scattering techniques. The combined use of SEC, dynamic light scattering and small-angle neutron scattering allowed us to demonstrate the validity of a scaling law describing the radius of gyration of comb-shaped copolymers as a function of their molecular structure. Moreover, we show that the use of SEC with standard calibration, although widely spread, is not adequate for PCEs.