Poly(Urea-Urethane) Elastomers with Fire-Retardant and Tensile Properties Enhanced by a Built-In Phosphorus Derivative

One of the most popular materials used in the plasticsindustryis polyurethane (PUR). In recent years, these plastics have gainedattention due to their ease of processing, their simple, relativelyinexpensive manufacturing process, and, above all, their properties,which allow PURs to be used as rigid and flexible foams, flexiblesolid products, adhesives, and biomedical materials. The primary purposeof this work was to study the chemical and/or physical modificationsof urethane prepolymers, resulting in enhanced mechanical propertiesand reduced flammability. A cross-linking agent based on triestersof phosphoric acid (PPEG) was synthesized and used as a componentto produce PUR and poly(urea-urethane)s (PUUR). Commercially availablepolyether diols, with average molar masses of 450 and 2000 g & BULL;mol(-1), and aromatic diisocyanates were used. In the furthercourse of work, thermal properties, flammability, and selected mechanicalparameters of the obtained materials were characterized. The additionof PPEG allowed one to achieve products exhibiting better tensilestrength, up to 19-fold improvement in properties from 0.51 to 9.71MPa, and increased thermal stability of materials. Moreover, the PPEGderivative has the ability to reduce the flammability of materials,which has been proven during tests on the calorimeter, where thereis a decrease in the heat release capacity (HRC) and the peak heatrelease rate (peak HRR) compared to the unmodified PUR reference sampleby 44.34 and 46.70%, respectively, for the material with the highestderivative content.