Study of thermoplastic elastomer synthesis, characterization, crystallization based on crystallizable amide segment contains conducting moiety

Abstract

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE'S) with a conducting moiety are made from Poly (tetramethylene oxide), hard segments TΦT, and sodium salt of Dimethyl-5-isothalate (DM5SIS). In the synthesis procedure, different mole percentages of the conducting moiety DM5SIS are used to see if the presence of salt affects the polymerization process and, as a result, the crystallinity of the hard segment. The synthesis of the polymer is confirmed using the 1H NMR method. The produced polymer had an inherent viscosity of 2.4–3.6 dl/g, indicating that the polymer had a high molecular weight. FT-IR techniques were used to determine the crystallinity of the hard segment in the copolymers, which revealed that the hard segment is entirely crystallised (>90%). The crystallinity is extremely reversible, according to a temperature-dependent IR investigation. The synthesised segmented copolymers DSC heating curve revealed two transitions: Tm of soft segment (SS) and melting of hard segment (HS). These materials have a very low undercooling value (about 20 °C), implying that the hard segment will crystallise quickly. The segmented copolymer that was created was clear, had a high molecular weight, and contained crystalline HS. Because the addition of a conducting moiety to the polymer chain has no effect on the polymerization process or the crystallinity of the hard segment, the polymer could be a good option for proton exchange membranes in fuel cells.