High performance poly(urethane-imide) prepared by introducing imide blocks into the polyurethane backbone

A series of novel linear poly(urethane-imide)s were synthesized by the reaction between isocyanate-terminated polyurethane (PU) prepolymer and amine- or anhydride-terminated oligoimide. PU prepolymer was synthesized by reacting polyethylene adipatediol of molecular weight 1000 with tolylene-2,4-diisocyanate at the molar ratio of 2:3 or 1:2. Oligoimide was synthesized from the reaction of 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic acid with 4,4′-oxydianiline at various molar ratios. Equimolar amounts of PU prepolymer and oligoimide were reacted in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, followed by casting on glass plates and heat treatment at 100 and 150 °C for 1 h each to give linear poly(urethane-imide)s as transparent yellowish brown films. Poly(urethane-imide) films with less of 30% of imide component became elastomer, and films with more than 36% imide component became plastic. The effects of end-groups of oligoimide, molecular weight of oligoimide, and molecular weight of PU prepolymer on the solvent resistance, the tensile properties, viscoelastic properties, and thermogravimetric properties of poly(urethane-imide) films were systematically examined. Solvent resistance and tensile modulus of poly(urethane-imide) films from amine-terminated oligoimides were better than those from anhydride-terminated oligoimides. On the other hand, thermal stability and elongation at break for the poly(urethane-imide) films from anhydride-terminated oligoimides were higher than those from amine-terminated oligoimides.