The research activities of the Polymer Physical Chemistry (PPC) laboratory at IMRAM, Tohoku University, were described. We aim to develop the structure-property relationship of soft materials, especially self-assembling polymer alloys and composite materials of polymers and inorganic solids (nano-composites) , regarding their hierarchical structures. For detailed structural characterization, we develop novel nanoscale methodologies mainly based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) , e.g., electron tomography, in-situ imaging under deformations, diffraction-based nano-imaging, etc. In this article, we describe the past and present status of the PPC laboratory, and available instrumentations, followed by brief introductions of recent achievements. They are (i) direct in-situ observation of nanofiller-filled rubber under uniaxial stretching and (ii) a staining-less direct observation of the crystalline structure of polyethylene (PE) . The former (i) demonstrated local strain and stress measurements that heavily depended on the distribution of fillers. The local stress was visualized by combining TEM experiments and computer simulation, providing fundamental knowledge for toughening mechanisms of rubber-based composites. The latter (ii) established direct visualization of crystalline structures of PE, revealing true structures without traditional contrast enhancement, the staining. Moreover, besides the crystalline/amorphous distribution, other (controversial) aspects of polymer crystals, e.g., chain orientation inside lamellar crystals, can be measured without any assumptions.

This article introduces the history, basic policy and research outline of the polymer materials chemistry laboratory in Aichi Institute of Technology. The main research fields at present are polyurethane elastomers, polyurethane dispersions, polyurethane adhesives and epoxy adhesives, with the aim of improving the functionality and performance of each material. We hope that these research will be useful for the growth of students and related industries.

Kobe is a port city that was opened to the world about 155 years ago and is known as one of the birthplaces of the modern rubber industry in Japan. Since then, rubber has continued to be an important industry at Kobe, which is also closely related to the establishment of the Department of Chemical Science and Engineering at Kobe University. Here, I introduce some of the topics related to rubber at Kobe University. The topics are 1) Hydrophobic polythiophenes based on surface entropy effect, where poly (3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) is shown to be intrinsically hydrophobic water contact angle>100 degree, 2) Rubbery polythiophenes with siloxane crosslinking; Conventional electro-conducting polymers are mechanically brittle. Here, cyclic siloxane moieties were introduced as side chains, which act as both internal plasticizer and crosslinking point, then P3HT became rubbery and showed mechanically reversible. 3) Interface analyses between hot-melt elastomer and isotactic polypropylene; the thickness of the interface was found to be micrometer order evaluated using several methods, 4) 3D printing of rubber for the soles of running shoes.

We here introduce the history of our laboratory and then turn to recent research topics on the structure and physical properties of rubbery polymers at interfaces.

In this section, we describe the history and current status of our laboratory and describe our recent research results:visualization of predictive fracture phenomena in rubber-filled systems under stretching by SAXS-CT and visualization of polymer chains at sub-micron scale by STXM.