Nanocomposites of waterborne polyurethane reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals

M. V. HORMAIZTEGUI; V. MUCCI; A. ECEIZA; ARANGUREN, MIRTA I.

Workshop; 5° Workshop Green Chemistry and Nanotechnologies in Polymer Chemistry, ECLIPSE Workshop, BIOPURFIL Workshop.; 2014

"Nanocomposites of waterborne polyurethane reinforced with cellulose nanocrystals" 5° Workshop Green Chemistry and Nanotechnologies in Polymer Chemistry, ECLIPSE Workshop, BIOPURFIL Workshop. Department of Chemical and Enviromental Engineering ? University of the Basque Country. 9-11, July 2014. Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain. Modalidad: poster. ?María Eugenia Victoria Hormaiztegui, Veronica Mucci, Arantxa Eceiza y Mirta Aranguren. <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.hps {mso-style-name:hps;} span.longtext {mso-style-name:long_text;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> 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 considerations on emission of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere are more and more restrictive and have forced many manufacturing polyurethane industries to devote an important 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 emulsifiers, flexibility, high strength, nonflammability, environmental safety and good adhesion characteristics 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 enhancement 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.