Abstract
The hydrolysis and condensation reactions in the mixed alkoxide solutions of Si(OC2H5)4 and Zr(O-nC3H7)4 with various water contents (1, 2, 4, and 8 in molar ratio to alkoxide, r) and catalysts were examined by rheological measurements and the number average molecular weight in order to explain the shape of the polymer in the mixed alkoxide solutions. It was found that fibers could be drawn in the viscosity range of 1∼100P from the acid-catalyzed solutions with lower water contents of the mole ratio H2O/alkoxide, r 2. On the other hand, crack free bulk gel was formed from the acid-catalyzed solutions including a large amount of water (r 4), and the base-catalyzed solutions. The relation between the intrinsic viscosity [{{{{ eta }}] and the number average molecular weight n, namely [{{{{ eta }}]=Knα, has shown that the acid-catalyzed spinnable solutions (r=1 and 2) have linear polymers and the exponent α's are about 0.56 and 0.81, whereas non-spinnable solutions (r=4 and 8) have three dimensional network polymers or spherical particles and the exponent α's are 0.41∼0.51 and 0.35.