Effect of soft segment length on the thermal behaviors of fluorinated polyurethanes

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and temperature modulated DSC (MDSC) have been applied to investigate the thermal behaviors of fluorinated polyurethanes (FPU), which were obtained using 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-1, 4-butanediol as the chain extender and based on various soft segments—polytetramethyl oxides (PTMO) with molecular weights of 650, 1000, 1400 and 2000. An exothermic peak and/or multiple melting endotherms were observed during the heating to melting temperature of soft and hard segments. Attributed to the simultaneous recrystallization and melting processes during heating, these features have been confirmed via MDSC, where an endotherm and an exotherm were noted in reversing and non-reversing components of the heat flow. Separating the non-reversing components from the reversing curves, the dependencies of polyurethane morphology on the length of the soft segment could be clarified using MDSC analysis. Soft segment lengthening significantly influences the morphology of soft segment domains in FPUs. The phase separation and crystallinity of the soft segment increased with its length. However, soft segment length exerted a minor influence on the dissociation temperature of the short-range ordered hard segment domain and on the melting temperature of hard segment crystals. Examination of the heats of melting based on the quasi-isothermal MDSC experiments indicated that the crystallinity of hard segment domains declined with increasing soft segment length.