Rational design of a novel NDI-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer with superior heat resistance

Novel Design of Eco-Friendly High-Performance Thermoplastic Elastomer Based on Polyurethane and Ground Tire Rubber toward Upcycling of Waste Tires

Waste rubber tires are an area of global concern in relation to reducing the consumption of petrochemical products and environmental pollution. Herein, eco-friendly high-performance thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) elastomers were successfully in-situ synthesized through the incorporation of ground tire rubber (GTR). The excellent wet-skid resistance of PU/GTR elastomer was achieved by using mixed polycaprolactone polyols with Mn = 1000 g/mol (PCL-1K) and PCL-2K as soft segments. More importantly, an efficient solution to balance the contradiction between dynamic heat build-up and wet-skid resistance in PU/GTR elastomers was that low heat build-up was realized through the limited friction between PU molecular chains, which was achieved with the help of the network structure formed from GTR particles uniformly distributed in the PU matrix. Impressively, the tanδ at 60 °C and the DIN abrasion volume (Δrel) of the optimal PU/GTR elastomer with 59.5% of PCL-1K and 5.0% of GTR were 0.03 and 38.5 mm3, respectively, which are significantly lower than the 0.12 and 158.32 mm3 for pure PU elastomer, indicating that the PU/GTR elastomer possesses extremely low rolling resistance and excellent wear resistance. Meanwhile, the tanδ at 0 °C of the above-mentioned PU/GTR elastomer was 0.92, which is higher than the 0.80 of pure PU elastomer, evidencing the high wet-skid resistance. To some extent, the as-prepared PU/GTR elastomer has effectively solved the "magic triangle" problem in the tire industry. Moreover, this novel research will be expected to make contributions in the upcycling of waste tires.

Polysiloxane-Based Polyurethanes with High Strength and Recyclability

Polysiloxanes have attracted considerable attention in biomedical engineering, owing to their inherent properties, including good flexibility and biocompatibility. However, their low mechanical strength limits their application scope. In this study, we synthesized a polysiloxane-based polyurethane by chemical copolymerization. A series of thermoplastic polysiloxane-polyurethanes (Si-TPUs) was synthesized using hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane containing two carbamate groups at the tail of the polymer chains 4,4′-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (HMDI) and 1,4-butanediol as raw materials. The effects of the hard-segment content and soft-segment number average molecular weight on the properties of the resulting TPUs were investigated. The prepared HMDI-based Si-TPUs exhibited good microphase separation, excellent mechanical properties, and acceptable repeatable processability. The tensile strength of SiTPU-2K-39 reached 21.5 MPa, which is significantly higher than that of other flexible polysiloxane materials. Moreover, the tensile strength and breaking elongation of SiTPU-2K-39 were maintained at 80.9% and 94.6%, respectively, after three cycles of regeneration. The Si-TPUs prepared in this work may potentially be used in gas separation, medical materials, antifouling coatings, and other applications.

Effect of the content and strength of hard segment on the viscoelasticity of the polyurethane elastomer: insights from molecular dynamics simulation

Due to the wide application, it is very crucial to understand the viscoelasticity of the polyurethane elastomer (PU, denoted by soft-hard block copolymer), which contains the soft segments (SS) and hard segments (HS). Thus, in this work, the effect of the content and strength of HS on the viscoelasticity of PU is explored in detail by adopting a coarse-grained model. First, the phase morphology of PU is characterized where both the single continuous phase and the bicontinuous phase are observed by varying the content of HS. Then, the viscoelasticity of PU is calculated by analyzing the storage modulus, the loss modulus, and the loss factor, which depends on the content and strength of HS. To further elucidate the mechanism for the storage modulus, the normalized interaction energy, the order parameter, and the formation probability of the HS or SS phase are characterized with the shear strain amplitude, which reflects the deformation of the phase structure. Then, the energy dissipation is quantified, which can rationalize the loss modulus well. A parameter is introduced, which considers the relative slippage and the content of HS or SS. It can explain the change in the loss factor with the content and strength of HS. In summary, this work can help to further understand how the content and strength of hard segments affect the viscoelasticity of the soft-hard block PU and structure evolution at the molecular level.

Controllable Design and Preparation of Hydroxyl-Terminated Solution-Polymerized Styrene Butadiene for Polyurethane Elastomers with High-Damping Properties

Vibration and noise are ubiquitous in social life, which severely damage machinery and adversely affect human health. Thus, the development of materials with high-damping performance is of great importance. Rubbers are typically used as damping materials because of their unique viscoelasticity. However, they do not satisfy the requirements of different applications with various working conditions. In this study, the advantages of the high loss factor of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) are combined with the strong designability of polyurethane. Hydroxyl-terminated solution-polymerized styrene butadiene rubbers (HTSSBRs) with different structures are prepared using anionic polymerization. HTSSBRs are then used as the soft segment during the synthesis of temperature-tunable high-damping performance polyurethane (HTSSBR-polyurethane (PU)). The prepared HTSSBR-PUs with different structures exhibit excellent loss performance, a maximum loss factor (tan δ_max ) of above 1.60, and an effective damping performance over a wide temperature range compared to traditional SBR and polyurethane. Therefore, this work offers an effective method for the design of damping materials with adjustable properties. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Biobased and Recyclable Polyurethane for Room-Temperature Damping and Three-Dimensional Printing

Petroleum-based polymer materials heavily rely on nonrenewable petrochemical resources, and damping materials are an important category of them. As far as green chemistry, recycling, and damping materials are concerned, there is an urgent need for renewable and recyclable biobased materials with high damping performance. Thus, this study designs and synthesizes a series of polylactic acid-based thermoplastic polyurethanes (PLA-based TPUs) composed of modified polylactic acid polyols, 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and 1,4-butanediol. PLA-based TPUs, as prepared, display excellent mechanical properties, damping performance, and biocompatibility. Otherwise, they can be used for three-dimensional printing (3D printing). Under multiple recycling, the overall performance of PLA-based TPUs is still maintained well. Overall, PLA-based TPUs, as designed in this article, show a potential application in damping materials under room temperature and personalized shoes via 3D printing and could realize resource recycling and material reuse.