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Effects of introducing Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) units on crystalline structure, polymorphism and hydrolysis degradation of poly(butylene adipate-ethylene terephthalate) random copolyesters

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Abstract

Aliphatic–aromatic copolyesters based on polybutylene adipate (PBA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) prepolymers were synthesized via the two-step melt polycondensation method. The existence of four sequences, namely, butylene adipate (BA), ethylene adipate (EA), butylene terephthalate (BT), and ethylene terephthalate (ET) was approved using 1HNMR spectra. Subsequently, the distribution of the sequences was calculated. The mean BA sequence length decreased markedly with increasing BHET molar ratio in the feed. Thermal properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and indicated that incorporating BHET decreases the melting point and crystallinity. Isothermal crystallization experiments show that increase in BHET content decreases the crystallization rate at constant degree of supercooling and same crystal structure. The formation of polymorphic crystals in tetrapolymers was approved by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns. Pure α-form crystals were developed after annealing at 27 °C for one month in PBA. Nevertheless, the same annealing conditions led to the development of mixed α- and β-form crystals in copolyesters with up to 15 mol% BHET. Increase of BHET content in the PBAET copolyesters causes decrease in the crystallinity and increase in the β-form crystals. Hence, increase in the elongation at break and decrease in the modulus of elasticity and yield strength of the samples were observed. The hydrolysis degradation rate in alkaline solution first increased, then decreased, and finally remained unchanged with increasing the amount of aromatic comonomer.

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  1. Dept. of Polymer Eng. & Color Tech., Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Sohrabi & Mehdi Rafizadeh

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  1. Ali Sohrabi
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  2. Mehdi Rafizadeh
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Correspondence to Mehdi Rafizadeh.

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Sohrabi, A., Rafizadeh, M. Effects of introducing Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) units on crystalline structure, polymorphism and hydrolysis degradation of poly(butylene adipate-ethylene terephthalate) random copolyesters. J Polym Res 28, 339 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-021-02679-8

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