Permeable emulsion-templated porous polyepoxides

Porous polyepoxides are attractive materials for a range of applications. Liquid foam precursors can be net shaped by moulding. We report preparation of permeable polyepoxide, Araldite (R) 2020, foams with porosities in the range of 45-60% from surfactant-stabilised W/O medium internal phase emulsion templates. Alteration of internal phase volume ratio and surfactant concentration were used to tailor the properties of the resulting polyMIPEs. These polyepoxide foams had elastic moduli in the range of 60-200 MPa and compression strengths between 2 and 6.5 MPa with permeabilities up to 200 mD. The theoretical average molecular weight between crosslinks was 534 g mol-1, while the foams had 500 +/- 50 g mol-1. Swelling tests confirmed the excellent chemical stability of the porous epoxy. However, the swelling ratio depended on the polarity of the solvents used. It decreased with decreasing solvent polarity.