Microphase separation of bulk and ultrathin films of polyurethane elastomers

Polyurethane elastomers (PUEs) were synthesized with poly(oxytetramethylene) glycol (PTMC), 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and 1,4-butanediol (BD)/1,1,1-trimethylol propane (TMP) by a prepolymer method. The degree of microphase separation of bulk and ultrathin films for these PUEs was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In the bulk films, FT-IR and DSC measurements revealed that the degree of micro-phase separation strengthened with increasing BD content. AFM observation of the BD-PUE showed hard segment domains surrounded by a soft segment matrix. The domains ranged in size from 10-20 nm, while BD/TMP- and TMP PUEs did not have clear domains. On the other hand, AFM observation was carried out on thin films (200 mm in thickness) and ultrathin films (approximately 8-5 nm) prepared by spin-coating the different concentrations of PUE solutions. The microphase separated strucuture under 10 nm in thickness showed marked decreases in the size of the microphase-separated domain.