Synthesis of composite materials formed by the interstitial polymerization of Acrylonitrile in Polyurethane Elastomers and their optical properties

Abstract

A method has been described of preparing interstitially polymerized composite materials incorporating polyethylene glycol (P. E. G.) based urethane rubbers in place of polypropylene glcol/oxypropylated glycerol (P. P. G.) ones. The successful manufacture of P. E. G. based composite materials, all using acrylonitrile as the vinyl monomer required a two shot stage process. The results obtained that, although, pure P.E. G. and the P. E. G. based rubbers are crystallisable, the sharp change in optical properties expected due to crystal melting in the composites was not observed due to the urethane phase’s failure to crystalise when combined with the vinyl polymer. The impact strength of a 70:30 P. A.N./polyurethane composite was found to treble when the urethane rubber was based on P. E. G. without any loss in modulus. For the poly methy- methacrylate/polyurethane composites described, the best combination of mechanical properties was obtained with samples having 80% poly methylmethacrylate 20% polyurethane by weight. Their optical properties were studied and reported.