Liu, M. T.; Zhao, J. X.; Zhang, H.; Kang, H. L. Synthesis and properties of bio-based silicone-containing copolyester elastomers and their composites. Polymer Bulletin (in Chinese
Liu, M. T.; Zhao, J. X.; Zhang, H.; Kang, H. L. Synthesis and properties of bio-based silicone-containing copolyester elastomers and their composites. Polymer Bulletin (in ChineseDOI: 10.11687/j.issn1003-3726.2026.26278.
Synthesis and Properties of Bio-based Silicone-containing Copolyester Elastomers and Their Composites
To overcome the inherent performance limitations of conventional polyester materials and expand their potential application range
a series of bio-based siloxane-containing polyester elastomers (PPPBSS) were synthesized
via
melt polycondensation using hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a flexible functional segment together with bio-based monomers. Subsequently
PPPBSS/SiO
2
composites were fabricated to further investigate their mechanical performance. The effects of PDMS content on the structure and properties of PPPBSS elastomers were systematically studied. The chemical structures of the synthesized elastomers were confirmed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (
1
H-NMR) spectroscopy. The results indicate that increasing the PDMS content leads to a gradual decrease in the number-average molecular weight (
M
n
) of PPPBSS from 6.42×10
4
g/mol to 1.27×10
4
g/mol. Meanwhile
the glass transition temperature (
T
g
) decreases from –49 °C to –55 °C
demonstrating enhanced chain flexibility and improved low-temperature performance. The temperature at 5% weight loss (
T
d
5%
) initially increases and then decreases with increasing PDMS content
reaching a maximum value of 354 °C for PPPBSS-3
indicating improved thermal stability. For the PPPBSS/SiO
2
composites
both tensile strength and tensile modulus decrease as the PDMS content increases
with the tensile strength of PPPBSS-2/SiO
2
decreasing to 4.6 MPa. Overall
the incorporation of PDMS effectively enhances the flexibility and thermal stability of the polyester elastomers while maintaining acceptable mechanical properties. These findings demonstrate the potential of bio-based siloxane-containing polyester elastomers for applications requiring excellent low-temperature flexibility and thermal resistance unde
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