Nanocomposite Reinforcement Effects in Millable Polyurethane Elastomer with Low Content of Halloysite Nanotubes

Millable polyurethane / halloysite nanotubes nanocomposites with high tensile strength and elongation at break were prepared by adding halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) during the preparation of prepolymer. Tensile test revealed that the nanocomposites have both higher tensile strength and elongation at break. In particular, with only 1 wt % of halloysite nanotubes incorporated, an 1.17-fold increase in tensile strength and 0.58-fold increase in elongation at break were achieved, respectively. The halloysite nanotube hydroxyl is covalently bonded to the polyurethane molecular chain during the synthesis of the prepolymer, which is involved in the whole reaction, and thus to affect the degree of phase separation and hydrogen bonding between the segments of the polyurethane chain and the halloysite nanotube. In addition, the synthetic polyurethane elastomer nanocomposites owing a linear structure. This paper incorporated HNTs into the synthesis of MPU for the first time to stiffen and strengthen the material at very low loadings. Moreover, an unprecedented environmental no solvent prepolymer method in order to compound MPU / HNTs nanocomposites have been proposed.

在预聚物制备过程中加入埃洛石纳米管（HNTs），制备出了具有高拉伸强度和断裂伸长率的可研磨聚氨酯/埃洛石纳米管纳米复合材料。拉伸试验表明，该纳米复合材料具有更高的拉伸强度和断裂伸长率。特别是，当仅掺入1 wt%的埃洛石纳米管时，拉伸强度提高了1.17倍，断裂伸长率提高了0.58倍。在预聚物合成过程中，埃洛石纳米管的羟基与聚氨酯分子链共价键合，参与整个反应，从而影响聚氨酯链段与埃洛石纳米管之间的相分离程度和氢键作用。此外，合成的聚氨酯弹性体纳米复合材料具有线性结构。本文首次将埃洛石纳米管引入到可研磨聚氨酯（MPU）的合成中，在极低的负载量下使材料变硬和增强。此外，还提出了一种前所未有的无溶剂预聚物环保方法来复合MPU/HNTs纳米复合材料。