Water as a morphological probe to study polymer–filler interfaces: an original application of thermoporosimetry

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the characterization of polymer–filler interfaces by thermoporosimetry using water as a probe. Composites of EVA filled with aluminium hydroxide with high filler content for the required fire retardant properties have been studied. After water sorption at 90 °C, the composites have been analyzed by thermoporosimetry using water as a morphological probe. This technique first allowed studying the influence of the filler content and the specific surface area on the water uptake. The study with drying steps and two molecular probes (water and cyclohexane) has highlighted that water is confined at the interface and thus thermoporosimetry is a powerful tool to characterize interfaces in EVA–ATH composites.