Development of wear-resistant thermoplastic polyurethanes by blending with poly(dimethyl siloxane). I. Physical properties

✍ Scribed by D. J. T. Hill; M. I. Killeen; J. H. O'Donnell; P. J. Pomery; D. St. John; A. K. Whittaker

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 773 KB
• Volume: 61
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19960906)61:10<1757::aid-app16>3.0.co;2-#

✦ Synopsis

Commercial thermoplastic polyurethanes have been melt blended on a standard laboratory extruder with low levels of commercial poly(dimethy1 siloxane) fluid. The resultant polyurethanes show improvements in wear resistance of up to 25% (c.f. virgin polyurethane) for an optimal PDMS concentration of 1.5-2.0%, beyond which the properties diminish rapidly. Unexpectedly, the mechanical properties of the blends (as measured by an Instron tensile testing machine) have been even more significantly enhanced, by up to 40% for tensile strength and 50% for elongation to break. Surface studies of the blends are also reported for x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), contact angles and coefficient of friction (CoF).