Synthesis and mechanical properties of radiation-cured acrylo-urethane elastomers and their structural and morphological features

Polyacrylo-urethane elastomers were synthesized using a polyethylene adipate diol capped with toluene diisocyanate and hydroxyethylacrylate, to characterize the morphology of these elastomers and correlate their properties with both morphological and structural features. The one shot polymerization technique was used, where the prepolymer, the 2-hydroxyethylacrylate and the chain extender were mixed in the desired stoichiometric ratios and then reacted at various times and temperatures. The reaction progress was monitored by the isocyanate consumption. Acrylo-urethane mono-oligomers showed low elongation at break when compared with others in the literature at equivalent degrees of cross-linking in agreement with earlier work. It was postulated that the cause of low elongation was the high functionality of the cross-link in the polymerized network. Moisture-curing of the polymer films improved the mechanical properties of the partially reacted films, which was attributed to the formation of cross-linking by allophanate formation. Catalysts used (such as tertiary amines and metal catalysts) increase the rate so that even at lower temperatures the reaction is completed in a relatively short time, with no great influence on the film properties