Amorphous phase-segregated copoly(ether)esterurethane thermoset networks with oligo(propylene glycol) and oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] segments: synthesis and characterization

Abstract

Completely amorphous copoly(ether)ester networks based on oligo(propylene glycol) and oligo[(rac-dilactide)-co-glycolide] segments were synthesized by crosslinking star-shaped hydroxyl-telechelic cooligomers using an aliphatic low-molecular weight diisocyanate. Two different network architectures were applied exhibiting differences in the phase-separation behavior. For networks from oligo(propylene glycol)-block-oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] triols (G3OPG-bl-OLG) only one glass transition was obtained. However, networks from a mixture of oligo(propylene glycol) triols (G3OPG) and oligo[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide] tetrols (P4OLG) with a ratio of components in a certain range show two glass transition temperatures (T g) being attributed to two segregated amorphous phases. In this way a wide spectrum of mechanical properties can be realized and adjusted to the requirements of a specific application.