Abstract
A series of poly(ester urethane)s were synthesized, containing, poly(e-caprolactone) diol of Mn= 2000 as soft segments. Each series used the same diisocyanate in the hard segment, i.e., 1,6 hexamethylene diisocyanate, with the same content. The polyurethane polymers were prepared by a two-step polymerization in the absence of catalyst, at the molar ratio of OHsoft segment /NCO/ OH chain extenders = 1/2/1. The chain extenders were 1,12-dodecan diol, glycerin and castor oil. For all polymers the structures were determined by FTIR, the physico-chemical and thermal properties were determined by thermogravimetric analysis and additionally tensile properties as well as Shore A hardness were analyzed. Poly(ester urethane)s with castor oil exhibited higher tensile strength (up to 27 MPa vs 30 MPa) and elongation at break (up to ~780% vs. 1000%) in comparison with the corresponding glycerin poly(ester urethane)s. Keywords: polyurethane elastomers, chain extenders, crosslinkers, mechanical properties, thermal behaviour