Preparation and characterization of durable antistatic polyurethane elastomer by preirradiation grafting on its film

Abstract

Polyurethane (PU) film gave birth to free radical by ⁶⁰Co-γirradiation under nitrogen atmosphere, and then the film was dipped into water-ethanol solution of β-hydroxyl ethyl ester methacrylic acid (HEMA). After HEMA grafting with PU on the surface, PU-g-PHEMA (i.e. the grafted copolymer of HEMA onto PU) film was dipped into antistatic agent (TN). The PU-g-PHEMA-g-TN (i.e. the grafted copolymer of TN onto PU-g-PHEMA) film that has durable antistatic property on its surface was synthesized by PU-g-PHEMA film grafted with TN under catalysis of MgCl₂. The grafted copolymers were characterized by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), etc. The electrical property, thermal property, and mechanical behavior of PU after antistatic modification were tested. The results showed that after antistatic modification the surface electric resistivity of PU elastomer reached nearly 10⁸ Ω class, with little change in a washing-fastness experiment, while its mechanical ability and thermal characteristic were slightly decreased. The result of WAXD indicated that the regular construction degree of the grafted PU declined, the grafting chains distributed randomly on the surface of PU.