Self-assembly of graft polyurethanes having both crystallizable poly(ε-caprolactone) blocks and soft poly(n-butyl acrylate) segments

Emmanuel Ibarboure (1) , Amélie Baron (1) , Eric Papon (1, 2) , Juan Rodriguez-Hernandez (1)

1 LCPO - Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères Organiques
2 Team 1 LCPO : Polymerization Catalyses & Engineering

We report the self-assembly behavior of graft polyurethanes combining in its structure soft lateral poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PnBuA) chains with rigid and crystallizable polycaprolactone (PCL) segments. Segmented polyurethanes microphase separated into high-glass transition temperature PCL hard and low-glass transition temperature PnBuA soft domains. The variation of the microstructure as a function of the hard segment content (ratio hard to soft segments) within the structure has been studied by using atomic force microscopy. Additionally, the crystallization mechanism appeared to be directly related to the properties of the substrates forming parallel lamellar structures on hydrophilic substrates and perpendicular lamellae with hydrophobic substrates.

Mots clés: Graft polyurethanes; Atomic force microscopy; Lamellar structure; Morphology; Self-assembly; Crystallizable

Domaines: Polymères

Emmanuel Ibarboure, Amélie Baron, Eric Papon, Juan Rodriguez-Hernandez. Self-assembly of graft polyurethanes having both crystallizable poly(ε-caprolactone) blocks and soft poly(n-butyl acrylate) segments. Thin Solid Films, 2009, 517 (11), pp.3281-3286. ⟨10.1016/j.tsf.2008.12.024⟩. ⟨hal-00397655⟩