Simultaneously enhancing of wear-resistant and mechanical properties of polyurethane composite based on the selective interaction of fluorinated graphene derivatives

Abstract

Simultaneously enhancing of wear-resistant and mechanical properties of the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is important for its wider application. Herein, fluorinated graphene (FG) was proposed and respectively functionalized by two amine-terminated molecules: aliphatic poly (oxypropylene) diamine (D230) (compatible with soft segment (SS) of TPU), and aromatic phenylamine (PA) (compatible with hard segment (HS) of TPU). It was found that composites with two FG derivatives exhibited different levels of microphase separation, which was related to the selective interaction of the two FG derivatives with the two phases of TPU. D230 functionalized FG tends to interact with SS phase, slightly improving tensile strength and wear resistance of TPU, and greatly reducing the ductility. However, PA functionalized FG tends to interact with HS phase, which keeps the ductility of the composite, while the ultimate tensile strength is increased by 32.8% and the relative volume loss is reduced by 26.3%.