Construction of CO2‐based thermoplastic elastomer via combining aliphatic polycarbonate and polyamide: A multiblock copolymer PPC‐mb‐PA6

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science 2024-11, Vol.141 (43), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Han, Weikai, Pan, Weibin, Liu, Xianzhang, Xie, Hongfeng, Jin, Jie, Liang, Jinling, Zhang, Yufeng, Huang, Guojia, Wu, Jingshu, Lin, Limiao, Xu, Yonghang, Meng, Yuezhong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: biodegradable; Block copolymers; Carbon dioxide; Copolymers; Deformation effects; Diffusion barriers; Dynamic mechanical analysis; Elastomers; Gel chromatography; mechanical properties; Melting points; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Phase separation; Polyamide resins; polycarbonates; Propylene; Shape effects; Shape memory; Strain; Tensile strength; thermoplastics
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.56154

A CO2‐based thermoplastic elastomer, poly(propylene carbonate)‐multiblock‐polyamide6 (PPC‐mb‐PA6) copolymer, was constructed through coupling amorphous/soft PPC blocks with crystalline/hard PA6 blocks. The PPC‐mb‐PA6 copolymers with different block length pairs were designed and synthesized, and then fully characterized by structural, thermal, and mechanical analysis. The proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H‐NMR), diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), heteronuclear multiple‐bond correlation (HMBC) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) results confirm that the multiblock sequence structure of PPC‐mb‐PA6. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests show that all PPC‐mb‐PA6s possess melting points around 179–206°C. The thermal and mechanical analysis indicates improved service temperatures (T5% up to 270°C) and tensile strength ranging from 15.8 to 39.6 MPa with higher PA6 content. The dynamic mechanical analysis demonstrates excellent shape memory effect of PPC‐mb‐PA6 with thermal stimuli responsiveness derived from the micro phase separation between soft PPC and hard PA6 domains. And the characteristic strain fixity parameter (Rf) and deformation recovery rate (Rr) are 98% and 100%, respectively, which are comparable with other excellent shape memory polymers. A CO2‐based thermoplastic elastomer, poly(propylene carbonate)‐multiblock‐polyamide6 (PPC‐mb‐PA6) copolymer, was constructed through coupling soft/amorphousPPC blocks and hard/crystalline PA6 blocks. This multiblock copolymer offers enhanced service temperatures and tensile strength, and also exhibits excellent shape memory effect with thermal stimuli responsiveness derived from the micro phase separation between PPC and PA6 domains.