Improvement of the Physical Properties of the Thermoplastic Polyurethane Using a Modified Waste Tire Powder

To solve the economic and environmental problems of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), waste tire powder (WTR) was applied to improve the physical properties of TPU. The waste tire rubber is a waste tire that has passed through a metactivator and is thermodynamically unstable, showing the shape of microcracked particles, and the cross linking is broken. The composites were prepared by simply mixing of TPU and WTR and a crosslinking agent using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and dicumyl peroxide. The structure of WTR was observed by FTIR, and the glass transition temperature (10 of TPU and two kinds of TPU/WTR composites were measured by DSC. The modified TPU/WTR composites showed significant improvements in water resistance, chemical resistance, and swelling properties in polar aprotic solvents. As the storage modulus increased, the compression set was also remarkably improved.