Surface tension of poly(ester urethane)s and poly(ether urethane)s

The correlation between the surface tension parameters and the chemical composition of poly(ester urethane) and poly(ether urethane) thin films with different soft and hard segments, both before and after plasma treatment, was investigated. Calculations are based on the geometric mean approach of Owens and Wendt (Owens DK and Wendt RC, J Appl Polym Sci 13:1741 (1969)), Rabel (Rabel W, Physikalische Blatter 33: 151 (1977)) and Kalble (Kalble DH,J Adhesion 1:102 (1969)), on the Lifshitz-van der Waals acid/base approach of van Oss and co-workers (van Oss Q, Good RJ and Chaudhury MK, Langmuir 4:884 (1988); van Oss Q, ju L, Chaudhury MK and Good Rj, Chem Rev 88:927 (1988); van Oss Q, Interfacial Forces in Aqueous Media. Marcel Dekker, New York (1994)) and on the theoretical methods involving quantitative structure-property relationships (Bicerano J, JMS Rev Macromol Chem Phys C36:161 (1996)). For all investigated films, the polar terms contribute significantly to the total surface tensions, as due to the large electron donor, y(sv) interactions. Plasma treatment alters the surface energy of samples by changing their surface polarity and hydrophilicity. The hydrophilicity trends for polyurethanes were also studied by means of the free energy of hydration between compounds and water. Preliminary blood contact tests of the selected polyurethane sample with higher hydrophilicity were developed for biomedical applications. (c) 2006 Society of Chemical Industry.