Issue 1, 2023

Achieving high elasticity of trans-1,4-polyisoprene with a combination of radiation crosslinking and thiol–ene grafting

Abstract

The mechanical properties of semicrystalline polymers are closely related to crystallization. For trans-1,4-polyisoprene (TPI), to explore the possibility of applications as elastomers, crystallization must be suppressed. Previous studies have shown that, although TPI can be crosslinked by sulfur vulcanization or high-energy radiation, the crystallization of TPI cannot be fully eliminated. In this work, we developed a two-step method to modify TPI. In the first step, TPI is irradiated with γ-ray to obtain crosslinked TPI (xTPI), which has decreased crystallinity. Then, the crystallinity of xTPI is further suppressed by grafting n-dodecanethiol to the xTPI chains by thiol–ene click chemistry. The grafted xTPI (g-xTPI) is characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). The effects of the n-dodecanethiol concentration and reaction time on the grafting degree, crystallization behavior, and mechanical properties are systematically investigated. The results show that the crystallinity of g-xTPI decreases with the grafting ratio. The critical grafting ratio for the “semicrystalline-to-amorphous” transition of xTPI is ∼3%. With the increase of the grafting ratio, the strain recovery of g-xTPI increases from 27.5% to 90%, indicating a transformation from a crystalline polymer to an elastomer.

Graphical abstract: Achieving high elasticity of trans-1,4-polyisoprene with a combination of radiation crosslinking and thiol–ene grafting

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Sep 2022
Accepted
21 Nov 2022
First published
22 Nov 2022

Polym. Chem., 2023,14, 81-91

Achieving high elasticity of trans-1,4-polyisoprene with a combination of radiation crosslinking and thiol–ene grafting

H. Zhao, C. Zhang, B. Yang, X. Zhang, X. Dong, D. Wang and G. Liu, Polym. Chem., 2023, 14, 81 DOI: 10.1039/D2PY01218A

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