Quantitative DSC evaluation of phase segregation rate in linear segmented polyurethanes and polyurethaneureas

Linearly segmented polyurethanes and polyurethaneureas are known to be phase separated; one phase is the soft phase, the other, the hard domain. Quantitative evaluation of the degree of phase separation was obtained by DSC. An estimation of the dispersed soft segments outside the soft phase can be made by ΔCp measurements and the increase in glass transition (Tg) can be attributed to the presence of hard blocks in the soft phase. The segregation rate depends on the nature of the soft segments which decrease from hydrogenated polybutadiene to polybutadiene to polyether. It also depends on the nature of the chain extender from aliphatic to aromatic diol and from aliphatic to aromatic diamine. The presence of soft segments in hard domains can be related to the thermoplastic behavior of the polyurethanes and polyurethaneureas.