An Study of Fumed Nanosilicas Fillers In Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Adhesives By FTIR and DSC

J. VEGA BAUDRIT, J. M. MARTÍN-MARTÍNEZ, P. VÁZQUEZ AND V. NAVARRO-BAÑÓN.

Brujas, Belgica

Congreso; Joint Meeting: 8th European Symposium on Polymer Blends and Eurofillers 2005; 2005

Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU´s) are phase segmented polymers groups that have good mechanical and elastic properties and hardness. They typically exhibit a two-phase microstructure, which take place from the chemical incompatibility involving soft and hard segments [1]. Fumed nanosilicas are added to increase the thermal, rheological and mechanical properties of TPU´s [2-7]. This improvement has been ascribed to the establishment of hydrogen bonds between the silanol groups on the nanosilica surface and the urethane and/or hydroxyl groups in the soft segments and microphase separation [8-10]. To confirm this hypothesis, in this study nanosilica treated with silanes by Wacker-Chemie to gradually decrease its silanol content was used. These TPU´s were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to establish the silica-TPU interaction degree.