High-Performance Recyclable Polyester Elastomers Through Transient Strain-Stiffening

Polyester thermoplastic elastomers are promising sustainable materials but their mechanical properties need improvement, in particular, attempts to increase strength often result in compromised elasticity. Strong and tough elastomers are known but require complex polymer formulations together with control over cross-linking or crystallinity, both of which challenge recycling. Here, the introduction of transient strain-stiffening approaches into fully amorphous structures show both strengthening and toughening of elastomers while conserving recyclability. The new amorphous block polyester elastomers are prepared by controlled polymerization methods using commercial monomers. The block polymers comprise a central poly(ɛ-caprolactone-co-ɛ-decalactone) block flanked by poly(cyclohexene oxide-alt-phthalate) blocks. Elastomer thermomechanical properties are tuned by varying ratios of ɛ-caprolactone to ɛ-decalactone within the mid-block to access materials with excellent mechanical properties. The best elastomers feature 30-50 wt.% polycaprolactone and exhibit tensile strengths up to 40 MPa, elongations at break above 2000%, with excellent elastic recovery (>90%). These materials exhibit strain-induced crystallization and outperform current commercial elastomers, entering a new region of tensile mechanical property space. They have service temperature ranges from -60 to 140 °C and high temperature stability (≥300 °C), with wide thermal (re)processing windows. These new polyester elastomers also show high resistance to creep, humidity resistance, and excellent recyclability.