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Updated: Jun 17, 2025

Artificial Thermal Ageing of Polyester Reinforced and Polyvinyl Chloride Coated Technical Fabric
Published on: January 29, 2020
Chemical Structure and Thermal Properties versus Accelerated Aging of Bio-Based Poly(ether-urethanes) with Modified
Julia Godlewska1, Joanna Smorawska1, Ewa Głowińska1
1Department of Polymers Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 Gabriel Narutowicza Street, 80-233 Gdansk, Poland.
Abstract:
Aging of polymers is a natural process that occurs during their usage and storage. Predicting the lifetime of polymers is a crucial aspect that should be considered at the design stage. In this paper, a series of bio-based thermoplastic poly(ether-urethane) elastomers (bio-TPUs) with modified hard segments were synthesized and investigated to understand the structural and property changes triggered by accelerated aging. The bio-TPUs were synthesized at an equimolar ratio of reagents using the prepolymer method with the use of bio-based poly(trimethylene ether) glycol, bio-based 1,3-propanediol, and hexamethylene diisocyanate or hexamethylene diisocyanate/partially bio-based diisocyanate mixtures. The polymerization reaction was catalyzed by dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL). The structural and property changes after accelerated aging under thermal and hydrothermal conditions were determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). Among other findings, it was observed that both the reference and aged bio-TPUs decomposed in two main stages and exhibited thermal stability up to approximately 300 °C. Based on the research conducted, it was found that accelerated aging impacts the supramolecular structure of TPUs.
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