Improving thermoplastic polyurethane film performance
Researchers report a performance improvement of thermoplastic polyurethane film by the incorporation of furfuryl alcohol and polydimethylsiloxane.
Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) films, widely used in industry and domestic, are required to have self/stimulate-healing ability and multifunction to achieve its recycling usage and adapt complex environment. Herein, the novel TPUs (PDMS/FA-PUDAs) were prepared by incorporation of biomass furfuryl alcohol (FA) and non-toxic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) through classic polymerisation route accompanied by Diels-Alder (DA) reaction. The new study investigated the combined effect of DA/rDA reaction and PDMS on improving TPU films’ stimulate-healing, mechanical and anti-adhesion properties by adjusting PDMS additive amount.
New perspective
The experimental results demonstrated that 10 wt% PDMS and FA modified TPU film (10 % PDMS/FA-PUDA) still remained high stimulate-healing efficiency (73.48 %) after three times repair process, owing to the DA/rDA reaction was reversible between FA and bismaleimide (BMI). Besides, 10 % PDMS/FA-PUDA had superior pristine mechanical properties because PDMS promoted the formation of microphase separation structure. Moreover, the film surface presented low surface free energy and satisfactory anti-adhesion behavior ascribed to the hydrophobicity of PDMS. According to the researchers, their investigation might give a new perspective for designing multifunctional TPU using renewable and non-toxic materials.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 177, April 2023.
