Thermal and mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers from different polymerization methods

Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPUs) based on 4,4′-methylene-diphenyl diisocyanate, poly(tetramethylene glycol), diamine-terminated aliphatic nylon oligomer, and 1,4-butanediol were synthesized by two different polymerization methods, i.e. one shot and prepolymer methods. The effects of the polymerization method on the thermal and mechanical properties of the TPUs have been studied. A broader distribution of hard segment lengths in TPUs prepared by the one shot method was observed from thermal and tensile property measurements, compared with those prepared by the prepolymer method. TPUs by the one shot method showed a higher T_m of the hard segments and better tensile properties when soft-hard segment interaction was relatively small. However, inferior tensile properties were observed when the soft-hard segment interaction was high; typically when nylon oligomer was used as a soft segment.