Effect of molecular structure of polyurethane elastomer on damping and mechanical properties

In order to obtain polyurethane elastomer (PUE) for reducing the vibration and noisy in deep-water environments, toluene diisocyanate (TDI), polypropylene glycol 2000 (PPG2000) and triethanolamine (TEA) were selected as raw materials, and the effects of hard segment content, R value and synthesis route on damping property and compression modulus of PUE were explored. Results reveal that the tanδ of PUE could be decreased with the increase of hard segment content, while the compression modulus increases. With the increase of R value, Tg increases, the compression modulus first increases and then decreases, reaching a peak when R=2. The prepolymer process and one-step process have little effect on the tanδ, but the compression modulus of PUE synthesized by prepolymer process is obviously greater than that of one-step process, which is more in line with the requirements of high damping/strong pressure resistance. It was observed that the compression modulus of PUE can be effectively improved by increasing the stiffness of molecular chain, the degree of hydrogen bonding and the uniformity of hard segment micro region distribution, but for damping property have a negative impact.