Chemistry Commons^™

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Polyurethanes And Polyimides, Kenneth Kull

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Four novel high performance soft thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers utilizing methylene bis(4-cyclohexylisocyanate) as a hard segment, 1,4 butanediol as a chain extender and modified low crystallinity carbonate copolymer as a soft segment were synthesized. The samples were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), tensile, elongation, hardness, abrasion resistance and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SAXS data shows evidence of an interdomain "center-to-center" distance of 45Å. DSC traces show evidence of one glass transition temperature and a weak melting region. DMA analysis reveals a low temperature secondary relaxation and the glass to rubber transition followed by a rubbery plateau. All samples demonstrated the ability …