A Review on Polyurethane and its Polymer Composites

Abstract

In the recent years, the research about polyurethane (PU) composites (thermoplastic, thermoset, biobased polyurethane with synthetic fibers (glass, aramid and carbon) and natural fibers used as reinforcement of polymers has been increased due to their biodegradability, lightness, reduced cost and favorable mechanical properties. Unique mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of Polyurethanes (thermoset/thermoplastic) can be designed by the reaction of various polyhydric compounds (polyols) and polyisocyanates which is derived from the formation of cross-linked polyurethanes. One of the challenges that researchers face today is to achieve satisfactory interfacial bonding which will result in products with better mechanical and thermal properties. Composites having better mechanical and thermal properties could find more industrial applications and consequently would have greater commercial acceptance. However, this is difficult due to the hydrophilicity of the fibers and the hydrophobicity of polymers such as polyurethane. In this review paper, comprehensive review about PU and its polymer composites were presented with concentrating on the effect of the different kinds of natural and synthetic fibers on the PU based polymer composites products. We also discussed the effect of chemical treatments of natural fibers on improvement of interfacial bonding between natural fiber and polyurethane matrix for development of advanced materials with better mechanical and thermal properties.

Enhancement of mechanical, thermal and water uptake performance of TPU/jute fiber green composites via chemical treatments on fiber surface

“…Eco-grade TPU is a new class of elastomer which is produced from renewable source with a content of 46% of total mass. The novel polyurethane based eco-composites can be fabricated using natural fibers with this new grade of polyurethane elastomer (13)(14)(15)(16).…”

Development of Nontoxic Biodegradable Polyurethanes Based on Polyhydroxyalkanoate and L-lysine Diisocyanate with Improved Mechanical Properties as New Elastomers Scaffolds

“…Synthesis of a novel biodegradable and biocompatible polyurethane material is important for biomedical engineering applications. Different kinds of polyurethanes are widely used in biomedical applications due to their biostability, biodegradability, and tunableness of the chain-segment structure from an extensive range of available raw materials, such as long chain diols, diisocyanates, and short chain diols (chain extenders) [3][4][5]. It is well-known that conventional polyurethane is composed of soft segments and hard segments.…”

Synthesis and structure/properties characterizations of four polyurethane model hard segments

“…For each application, the PU compositions selected afford needed physical characteristics that may be uniquely required in the particular application. Therefore, the research on PU has been a hot topic in polymer research [ 6 – 8 ]. Previous investigations have shown that the relationship between structure and properties in PUs is of course largely determined by selection of starting materials, but also by the polymerization method [ 9 , 10 ], degree of phase separation [ 11 , 12 ], morphology [ 13 , 14 ] and by extent of crystallization [ 15 , 16 ] and hydrogen bonding [ 17 , 18 ] that are present in the final polymer.…”