Synthesis of soybean oil-based non-isocyanate polyurethane with highly tunable mechanical properties using poly(2-aminoethylmethacrylate-ran-ethylmethacryate)

Abstract

Soybean oil-based material is presently attracting interest as a sustainable alternative to crude oil-based materials. However, soybean oil-based non-isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) commonly encounter challenges in attaining high stiffness as because of large molecule size and irregular structure of CSBO molecule. In order to create a stiff property by forming intersegmental order, poly(2-aminoethylmethacrylate-ran-ethylmethacrylate) (poly(AEMA-ran-EMA)) was used as amine terminated reactant. By analyzing the glass transition temperature in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the position of the halo peak in X-ray diffraction (XRD), it was verified that NIPU, which was derived from a copolymer with a low$_{FAEMA}$ value, has a comparable intersegmental structure to poly(ethyl methacrylate). The synthesized NIPU sample exhibited a Young's modulus that was four-fold more and a tensile stress that was two-fold greater compared to the previous soybean oil-based NIPU. The composition ratio of copolymer can be adjusted extensively and continuously, resulting in a wide variety of Young's modulus and tensile stress values that differ by more than 10 times.