A crosslinked waterborne poly(urethane-urea) oligomer enables mechanically strong waterborne polyacrylate–poly(urethane-urea) hybrid films with superior film-forming ability

In this article, a crosslinked waterborne poly(urethane-urea) (WPUU) is synthesized based on the terminal aromatic amine polyether (DP-1000) and aliphatic isophorone diisocyanate. Then WPUU is compound with acrylate monomer by emulsion polymerization to produce waterborne polyacrylate–poly(urethane-urea) (WPUUA) hybrid emulsions. Compared with waterborne polyacrylate (WPA) film, the film-forming ability of WPUUA film is improved and the surface roughness R a and R q of WPUUA film decreases from 47.5 and 36.4 nm to 35.2 and 18.8 nm, respectively. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of WPUUA films are significantly improved compared to WPA film. In addition, the performances of WPUUA hybrid films can be modified according to requirements by adjusting the molar ratio between DP-1000 and polyisocyanate. As a result, these WPUUA hybrid emulsions have great application potential in waterborne coatings and other fields.