Patent Title: POLYESTER-MODIFIED POLYBUTADIENOLS FOR PRODUCING POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS AND THERMOPLASTIC POLYURETHANES

 Number/Link: WO2016/026807  (German)

Applicant/Assignee: BASF

Publication date: 25-02-2016

“Gist”: Polybutadiene polyols are capped with caprolactone

Why it is interesting: Liquid hydroxy-terminated polybutadienes have been available for quite a while and their use in polyurethane elastomers and TPUs is known.  However, because of their immiscibility with isocyanates, polyols and most chain extenders they are notoriously difficult to process, resulting in elastomers that often show poor or inconsistent properties. According to this invention the problem can be solved by capping the polybutadienols with a few moles of cyclic ester, preferably with ε-caprolactone. The capped polyols are miscible with e.g. MDI and butanediol and the resulting elastomers show much improved properties compared to both polybutanedienol- and polycaprolactone- based elastomers.

Epsilon-caprolactone

ε