Nanocomposite of waterborne polyurethane reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals

M. E. V. HORMAIZTEQUI; V. MUCCI; A. ECEIZA; M. I. ARANGUREN

San Sebastián

Workshop; 5th Workshop Green Chemistry and Nanotechnologies in Polymer Chemistry. ECLIPSE Workshop ? BIOPURFIL Workshop.; 2014

Universidad del País Vasco

Polyurethane (PU) is a most versatile polymer material, with a wide variety of physical and chemical properties that can be synthesized from many commercially available and relatively cheap polyols, isocyanates and chain extenders. However, the environment consid-erations on emission of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere are more and more restrictive and have forced many manufacturing polyurethane industries to devote an impor-tant part of their efforts to the research and development of environmentally friendly products. Waterborne polyurethane (WB-PU) dispersions can offer the following advantages: viscosity and flow properties independent of molecular weight, no need for external emulsifi-ers, flexibility, high strength, nonflammability, environmental safety and good adhesion cha-racteristics that allow their use in a wide range of application fields. However, WC-PUs present also drawbacks such as poor surface properties, relatively low chemical resistance, and limited thermal, mechanical and electrolytic stability caused principally by low crosslinking density 1. Composites of WB-PU with cellulose nanocrystals have shown significant en-hancement in mechanical properties and thermal stability2. In this work, waterborne polyurethanes, based on polycaprolactone diol and a bio-based diol were used in the formulation of composites with different content of nanocellulose crystals.