Abstract
A series of cross-linked hydroxyl-terminated polyether and poly(ε-caprolactone) HTPE/PCL binders were prepared by varying the relative mass contents of PCL to HTPE. The correlations between the microstructures and macroscopic mechanical properties of HTPE/PCL binders at a wide temperature range of − 50 to 70 °C were investigated. The cross-linking network structures of HTPE/PCL binders were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR), and the universal testing machine was used to characterize the mechanical properties of HTPE/PCL binders. It is found that the influence of adding PCL on the physical cross-linking network structures is not obvious, but it reduces the degree of microphase separation. For the chemical cross-linking network structures of HTPE/PCL binders, the cross-linking density (Ve) demonstrates an increasing tendency with enhancing PCL mass content, but the molecular weight between the cross-linking points (Mc) shows an opposite change trend. The addition of PCL can improve the maximum tensile strength (σm) of HTPE/PCL binders under the wide temperature range of − 50 to 70 °C. The HTPE/PCL binder with 40 wt% PCL possesses the better mechanical properties; its σm increases from 0.63 to 0.81 MPa at 20 °C, 1.64 to 3.06 MPa at − 50 °C and 0.57 to 0.68 MPa at 70 °C separately comparing with the HTPE binder.
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Yuan, S., Jiang, S. & Luo, Y. Cross-linking network structures and mechanical properties of novel HTPE/PCL binder for solid propellant. Polym. Bull. 78, 313–334 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-020-03110-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-020-03110-w