Preparation and performance of polyether elastomer with a combination of polyurethane and polytriazole

Polyether polyurethane elastomers prepared by polyisocyanate N100 and ethylene oxide-tetrahydrofuran copolymer (PET) were compared to that polytriazole polyethylene oxide-tetrahydrofuran (PTPET) elastomers prepared by alkynyl-terminated polyethylene oxide-tetrahydrofuran (ATPET) and glycidyl azide polymer (GAP) at a comparative molecular weight. The polyether polyurethane (PET-N100) elastomers turned out to have better mechanical properties than that of PTPET/GAP elastomer. In order to explore the effectiveness of nitrogen-enriched structures in the field of flame-retardancy, PET-N100 and PTPET/GAP elastomers were tested by cone calorimetry. The PET-N100 elastomer exhibited an inferior performance of flame-retardancy to that of PTPET/GAP elastomer. Therefore, a modification of the terminal hydroxyl group in GAP with 4,4′-methylene-bisphenyl-isocyanate (MDI) and flame-retardant diethyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl) amino methyl phosphonate (DBMAP) was attempted and characterized by FT-IR, NMR, and gel permeation chromatography. It was found that the synthesized GAP-MDI-DBAMP could serve as a novel curing agent for ATPET, which would endow the novel PTPET elastomer a combination of the advantageous properties, that is, the outstanding mechanical properties from PET-N100 elastomer, favorable flame-retardancy from PTPET/GAP elastomer and DBAMP. The thermogravimetry analysis/DTG, DSC, tensile strength test, and swelling analysis proved that PTPET/GAP-MDI-DBAMP elastomer had excellent thermal stability and mechanical strength.