Synthesis and Properties of Millable Polyurethane Elastomer with Low Content of Halloysite Nanotubes Based on Castor Oil as a Renewable Resource Polyol

Millable polyurethane elastomers nanocomposites based on dysfunctional castor oil (CO), polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), 2, 4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and 1,4-butane diol (BD) were prepared. CO as an abundant natural polyol, which has been subjected to extensive investigations for polyurethane formation, is suitable for a variety of applications. In this work, with only 0.5 wt % of HNTs incorporated, an 0.35-fold increase in tensile strength and 0.63-fold increase in Young's modulus of the synthetic nanocomposites were achieved, respectively. The enhanced mechanical performance was primarily attributed to the formation of crosslinking network and strong interfacial interaction between nanofiller and matrix. All elastomers nanocomposites were characterized by conventional methods.