Jin Xin, Guo Naisheng, You Zhanping, Tan Yiqiu
Transportation Engineering College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931-1295, USA.
Materials (Basel). 2020 Nov 5;13(21):4991. doi: 10.3390/ma13214991.
Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPUs) are widely used in a variety of applications as a result of flexible and superior performance. However, few scholars pay close attention on the design and synthesis of TPUs through the self-determined laboratory process, especially on definite of chemical structures and upon the influence on properties. To investigate the properties of synthesized modifier based on chemical structure, firstly each kind of unknown structure and composition ratio of TPUs was determined by using a new method. Furthermore, the thermal characteristics and mechanical properties of modifiers were exposed by thermal characteristics and mechanics performance tests. The experimental results indicate that TPUs for use as an asphalt modifier can successfully be synthesized with the aid of semi-prepolymer method. The linear backbone structure of TPUs with different hard segment contents were determined by micro test methods. The polyester-based TPUs had thermal behavior better than the polyether-based TPUs; conversely, the low temperature performance of polyether-based TPUs was superior. Most importantly, it was found that the relative molecular mass of TPUs exhibited a weak effect on the mechanical properties, whereas the crystallinity of hard segment showed a significant influence on the properties of TPUs.
热塑性聚氨酯弹性体（TPU）因其柔韧性和卓越性能而广泛应用于各种领域。然而，很少有学者通过自主确定的实验室过程密切关注TPU的设计与合成，尤其是化学结构的确定以及对性能的影响。为了基于化学结构研究合成改性剂的性能，首先使用一种新方法确定了TPU的每种未知结构和组成比例。此外，通过热性能和力学性能测试揭示了改性剂的热特性和力学性能。实验结果表明，借助半预聚物法能够成功合成用作沥青改性剂的TPU。采用微观测试方法确定了不同硬段含量的TPU的线性主链结构。聚酯基TPU的热性能优于聚醚基TPU；相反，聚醚基TPU的低温性能更优。最重要的是，发现TPU的相对分子质量对力学性能影响较弱，而硬段的结晶度对TPU的性能有显著影响。
