Mixture design approaches to IPDI–H6XDI–XDI ternary diisocyanate-based waterborne polyurethanes

Abstract

A systematic modelling analysis for polyaddition of poly(butylene glycol adipate) [PBA] to isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), xylene diisocyanate (XDI) and hydrogenated xylene diisocyanate (H6XDI) ternary diisocyanate-based waterborne polyurethane (WPU) synthesized by a modified acetone process was performed. Using a mixture of experimental designs, empirical models are fitted and plotted as contour diagrams, which facilitate revealing the synergistic/antagonistic effects between the mixed diisocyanates. The results indicate that each component demonstrates different performances in either binary (IPDI–XDI, XDI–H6XDI and IPDI–H6XDI) or ternary (IPDI–XDI–H6XDI) systems with the IPDI-based WPU, which possesses the highest tensile strength. The largest ultimate elongation occurs at 13IPDI/13H6XDI/13 XDI ternary diisocyanate-mixed WPU. Particle size analysis shows that the larger particles are obtained in the dispersion of IPDI–XDI binary WPU. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show that PBA polyol and its converted WPU show doublet melting behaviour. A plot of 1/TmL (lower melting temperature) against −lnXIPDI (mole fraction of IPDI in mixed diisocyanates) is approximately linear, indicating that the hard segments are randomly distributed along the molecular chain. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and polarized microscopy (POM) on these WPU films were also examined.