Morphology and properties of thermoplastic polyester polyurethane elastomer for propellants

According to propellant binder needs, a series of nitroester plastisized segmented thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (TPUE) based on polyethylene/polypropylene adipate diol (PEPA) as the soft segments and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) extended with 1,4-butane diol (BDO) as the hard segments are synthesized. Melt prepolymerization method is used to prepare the TPUE. GPC, FTIR, DSC, X-Ray, tensile test techniques and the irascibility with nitrate ester were applied to study the relationships between morphology and properties. The results show that the TPUE has a higher molecular weight with polyurethane characterization, and exhibits excellent integrate properties to meet requirements of propellant in terms of lower Tg of soft segments, lower processing temperature and good miscibility with nitrate ester and mechanical properties.