Citric acid grafting onto polyurethane for the control of molecular interactions and water compatibility

Abstract

Citric acid (CA) was used as a grafted group onto polyurethane (PU) to form a CA-grafted PU series, with a control PU series containing free CA prepared for comparison. With an increase in the CA content, the enthalpy change during the melting increased for the PU and CPU series, and the glass transition temperature increased with the increase in CA content for the PU series but not for the CPU series. The tensile strengths of the PU series sharply increased with the CA content, whereas those of the CPU series did not. The PU series demonstrated better low-temperature flexibility and water permeability than the unmodified PU.