Compatibilization of Thermoplastic Polyurethane and Polypropylene with a SEBS Compatibilizer

Abstract

The effect of styrene-ethylene/buthylene-styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS) on the thermal and rheological properties of thermoplastic polyurethane/polypropylene (TPU/PP) blends was investigated. For the selection of polymer materials and polymer blends for various fields of applications the stability of materials under constant deformation are very important. The blends were therefore characterized by measuring secondary viscoelastic functions creep, recovery and creep modulus using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) in the creep fatigue regime. The master curves at the reference temperature of 25°C were created by time-temperature correspondence (TTC) principle. The correlation of the creep modulus with time, temperature and addition of compatibilizer was discussed. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results indicated that the addition of SEBS as a compatibilizer in TPU/PP blends increases glass transition temperature (Tg) and decreases crystallinity (χc). SEBS block copolymer acts as an efficient compatibilizer for TPU/PP blends.