Synthesis and characterization of linear waterborne poly(ethyl acrylate-urethane) prepared from poly(ethyl acrylate) diol via atom transfer radical polymerization

Linear waterborne poly(ethyl acrylate‐urethane)s (PEA‐Us) were synthesized by reacting a poly (ethyl acrylate) diol (HO‐PEA‐OH) with isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and 2,2‐bis(hydroxymethyl) propionic acid (DMPA). The poly(ethyl acrylate) (HO‐PEA‐Br) was prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization of ethyl acrylate with a designed molecular weight (Mn) of about 2000 and the hydroxyl (OH) end capped poly(ethyl acrylate) (HO‐PEA‐OH) was obtained by substituting the bromo end group with N‐ethanol methyl amine. The HO‐PEA‐OH of Mn 2000 with OH functionality of about 1.92 and the linear waterborne PEA‐U with Mn of about 13,300 were obtained and characterized by hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H‐NMR), gel permeation chromatography, thermo gravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. When the ratio of isocyanate to hydroxyl group (NCO/OH) was 1.4 and DMPA was 5 wt %, the waterborne PEA‐U was a tough material with a tensile strength of 4.9 MPa, elastic modulus of 31.9 N/mm2 and elongation at break of about 286%, which showed its potential applications in many fields. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012