ABSTRACT
The elastic properties of thermoplastic elastomers based on poly(tetramethylene oxide) and monodisperse amide hard segments (HS) were studied in compression and tensile mode as well as with stress relaxation (SR) measurements. For these copolymers the compression set values were low and increased with the modulus and temperature. At low strains (<50%) the tensile set (TS) values were low and the strain recovered almost completely with time. Furthermore, the TS values increased with strain, due to a deformation of the crystallites and a strain hardening of the polyether segments. During the SR measurements, two processes were observed: a fast initial decay in the first 10 s followed by a relaxation process that was dependant on the logarithm of time. The initial decay during the first seconds increased with the modulus of the copolymers and with the applied strain. The SR values for the second process, normalised to the stress at 100 s, were independent of the strain (within the range of 25-300%) and only little dependant on the modulus of the system. In comparison to the literature data the copolymers with the monodisperse HS displayed improved elastic properties and low SR values.
ABSTRACT
The tensile properties of segmented block copolymers with mono-disperse hard segments were studied with respect to the hard segment content (16-44 wt.%) and the temperature (20-110 °C). The copolymers were comprised of poly(tetramethylene oxide) segments with the molecular weights of 650-2,900 Da and of mono-disperse bisester-tetra-amide segments (T6A6T) based on adipic acid (A), terephthalic acid (T) and hexamethylene diamine (6). An increasing content of T6A6T gave rise to an increased modulus, yield stress and fracture stress. The modulus could be modeled by a composite model. Moreover, a strain-softening was observed well below the yield stress, due to the shearing of the T6A6T crystallites. At strains >200%, a strain-hardening of the PTMO segments took place and this even for PTMO segments that were amorphous in the isotropic state. The strain hardening increased the tensile properties. An increase in temperature had little effect on the modulus of the copolymers, but was found to lower the yield and fracture stresses. At temperatures above the melting temperature of the oriented PTMO, no strain-hardening took place. The yield stress as a function of temperature could be described by the Eyring relationship, but a modulus-yield stress relationship could not be established.
