Synthesis and Characterization of Polyurethane (PU) Nanocomposites

Wong, Kai Yi (2017) Synthesis and Characterization of Polyurethane (PU) Nanocomposites. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Polyurethane (PU) is a resilient, flexible and durable manufactured material that can take the place of paint, cotton, rubber, metal or wood in thousands of applications across virtually all fields. PU is categorized as a polymer which is a molecule that consists of a series of repeating units, monomers based on it’s chemical structure. PU has numerous applications in the coating industries because of their mechanical strength, excellent abrasion resistance, toughness, low temperature flexibility, chemical and corrosion resistance. PU is synthesized by the addition polymerization between two raw materials (monomers): polyol and diisocyanate. The polyol and diisocyanate used in this project are polycaprolactone (PCL) and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). The solvent used in this project is tetrahydrofuran (THF). The objective of this project is to synthesis PU incorporated with nanoclay and castor oil as well as to study the characteristic of the produced PU. Different amount of nanoclay and castor oil are added during the synthesis of PU. The products are then analyzed by using IR, TGA, DSC, SEM, spin coater and pencil hardness testing to determine the characteristics of the PU. The reason to add castor oil is to replace the use of PCL as castor oil is much more environmental friendly and more economic. It is anticipated that by replacing PCL with castor oil, the mechanical properties of the PU will be enhanced as well.