Crystallization of hard segments in MDI/BD-based polyurethanes deformed at elevated temperature and their dependence on the MDI/BD content

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of strain-induced crystallization in multiblock copolymers: effects of dilution

Multiblock copolymers containing alternating semicrystalline and molten blocks are good thermoplastic elastomers. Their crystallization in the stretching process is however complicated by the dilution effects, prior microphase separation and contrast chain rigidity of the molten blocks. We designed our systematic investigation with three integrated steps, and herein, as the first step, we considered only the dilution effects without prior microphase separation and contrast chain rigidity. We compared two extreme situations of local dilution separately corresponding to parallel-posited and antiparallel-posited block copolymers upon strain-induced crystallization. Our dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of diblock and tetrablock copolymers demonstrated that the stretching introduces a constraint on the diffusion of locally posited crystallizable blocks along the stretching direction for crystallization and thus enhances the dilution effects to result in a higher diversity in crystal stabilities. We observed that the strain-induced crystallization of parallel-posited copolymers behaved like the melt crystallization of homopolymers; in contrast, the strain-induced crystallization of antiparallel-posited copolymers yielded crystallites near the block junction, which are relatively small and less stable due to their local dilution suppressing their melting points. Similar to the case of spider dragline silks, two contrasting stabilities of crystallites in semicrystalline multiblock copolymers explain their good toughness. Our modeling approach paves the way toward a better understanding of the structure-property relationship in the semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomers.

Influence of trisilanol isooctyl POSS content on the structure, morphology and rheological properties of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)

In this study, thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) containing trisilanol isooctyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), a reactive nanofiller, were synthesized and characterized rheologically and morphologically, and the effects of POSS content on the melt thermal stability of the TPUs are investigated. Samples containing 0, 0.23, 0.57, 1.14, and 2.23% (w/w) POSS were synthesized by reactive extrusion and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), oscillatory and extensional rheometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS, respectively). The rheological properties of molten TPU are time-dependent and the melt thermal stability of the TPU is maximal at 1.14% of POSS. The addition of 0.23 and 0.57% POSS promotes strain-hardening at low extensional strain rates (0.01 and 0.10 s−1), not affecting the extensional characteristics at higher strain rates. The addition of increasing amounts of POSS leads to the formation of POSS-rich clusters well dispersed in the TPU matrix. SAXS and WAXS results show that the POSS domains are amorphous and that POSS does not modify the crystalline structure of TPU. Therefore, this work indicates that synthesizing TPU in the presence of trisilanol isooctyl POSS can increase the melt thermal stability of the polymer, facilitating its processing.

Synthesis and structure/properties characterizations of four polyurethane model hard segments

Four model polyurethane (PU) hard segments were synthesized by reaction of butanol with four typical diisocyanates. The four diisocyanates were aromatic 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (4,4'-MDI) and MDI-50 (50% mixture of 2,4'-MDI and 4,4'-MDI), cycloaliphatic 4,4'-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (HMDI) and linear aliphatic 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, MS, X-ray and DSC methods were employed to determine their structures and to analyse their crystallization behaviours and hydrogen bonding interactions. Each of the four PU compounds prepared in the present work displays unique spectral characteristics. The FTIR bands and NMR resonance peaks assigned in the four samples thus provide a reliable database and starting point for investigating the relationship between hard segment structure and the crystallization and hydrogen bonding behaviour in more complex-segmented PU compositions.