Biobased Thermoplastic Elastomers: Structure-Property Relationship of Poly(hexamethylene 2,5-furanodicarboxylate)-Block-Poly(tetrahydrofuran) Copolymers Prepared by Melt Polycondensation (original) (raw)

A series of poly(hexamethylene 2,5-furanodicarboxylate)-block-poly(tetrahydrofuran) (PHF-b-F-pTHF) copolymers were synthesized using a two-stage procedure, employing transesterification and polycondensation. The content of pTHF flexible segments varied from 25 to 75 wt.%. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses were applied to confirm the molecular structure of the materials. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical measurements (DMTA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) allowed characterizing the supramolecular structure of the synthesized copolymers. SEM analysis was applied to show the differences in the block copolymers’ morphologies concerning their chemical structure. The influence of the number of flexible segments in the copolymers on the phase transition temperatures, thermal properties, as well as the thermo-oxidative and thermal stability was analyzed. TGA analysis, along with tensile tests (static and ...