Polycaprolactone Strengthening Bio-Based Polyester Elastomer

Since bio-based polyester elastomer (BEE) exhibits poor mechanical properties, polycaprolactone (PCL) was adopted to strengthen BEE and prepared a new typed bio-based BEE/PCL vulcanizates with high mechanical properties through solution blend and traditional vulcanizing process. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimeter (DCS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and mechanical tests were used to characterize the compatibility, microstructure, thermal and crystallization properties, and mechanical properties of BEE/PCL vulcanizates. BEE/PCL vulcanizates exhibit only one glass transition temperature, which is a thermodynamic compatible system; however, SEM results show that BEE/PCL vulcanizate is a microphase-separated system. With the increase of PCL content, the crystallinity and tensile strength of BEE/PCL vulcanizates gradually increase, and the elongation at break firstly increases and then decreases. When the mass ratio of BEE to PCL is 8: 2, BEE/PCL vulcanizates present the optimal mechanical properties with the tensile strength of 5.1 MPa and the elongation at break of 292%. © 2021, Editorial Board of Polymer Materials Science & Engineering. All right reserved.