Chemical structure-physical property relationships in polyurethane elastomeric fibres.pdfVIP

European Polymer Journal, 1972, Vol. 8, pp. 385-396. Pergamon Press. Printed in England. C H E M I C A L S T R U C T U R E - P H Y S I C A L P R O P E R T Y R E L A T I O N S H I P S I N P O L Y U R E T H A N E E L A S T O M E R I C F I B R E S ; P R O P E R T Y V A R I A T I O N S I N P O L Y M E R S C O N T A I N I N G H I G H H A R D S E G M E N T C O N C E N T R A T I O N S J. FERGUSON and D. PATSAVOUDIS Fibre ScienceDepartment, University of Strathclyde, George Street, Glasgow C.1, Scotland Received 11June 1971 Abstraet--A series of linear polyether urethane elastomers has been prepared with soft segment polyether content ranging from 0 to 708 per cent. The polymers were wet spun; the mechanical and elastic properties of the resulting filaments were examined. Cross-sections of the filaments were examined under cross-polaroids. A macroscopically discerniblephase change appears to be related to an inversion of stress-relaxation trends. Specific stress and elongation at break appear also to be affected by the same phase change; minor abnormalities of modulus and specific stress, inside a narrow variation of soft segment concentration, coincide with the appearance of spherulitic structure and birefringence. The elastic behaviour of the filaments is discussed and explained in terms of a physical structure consisting of soft and hard segment domains. THE EXTENSIVEinvestigations over a number of years on polyurethane elastomers and their chemical structure-physical property relationships have been mainly concentrated on cross-linked polymers. Moreover these studies have been almost exclusively con- fined to the structural ranges which produce commercially acceptable products. Such investigations have so far resulted in fairly general agreement on the effect of the main structural groups which constitute the elastomers. These groups are commonly divided into soft