Abstract:
In this modern era, a world without synthetic polymers is incredible. In spectacle of rapidly
depleting natural resources, synthetic polymers have become an elegant alternative.
Polyurethanes are one of these, that have been developed as an exclusive class of polymers with
wide variety of applications in foams, elastomers, coatings, sealants, textile finishing,
automotive, insulation and footwear industries. Polyurethane based coating systems have a
proven record in the coatings industry dominating the market in some applications because they
exhibit a high level of quality. These coatings allow high variability of the property profile and
can be fitted for a specific application by changing, the chemical structure of the constituents or
the molecular weight and degree of branching of the chains. Polyurethane coatings are in general
more expensive. Polyurethane chemistry permits the amalgamation of functional groups which
can be used to modify properties. To take advantage of polyurethane film-forming properties, a
combination with cheaper materials is now a common practice in the coating market, leading to
new different products. Of the most popular second components, one is the acrylic dispersion
and the new product combines the excellent mechanical and chemical properties of the
polyurethane resin with the low price of the acrylic component. In current project polyurethane
coatings were prepared by the copolymerization of polyurethane with the butyl acrylate.
Different series of polyurethane acrylate copolymers containing different monomeric
constituents i.e. diisocyanates and polyols, in different proportions with butyl acrylate were
synthesized by emulsion polymerization and characterized successfully. The synthesis of these
copolymers was completed in three steps i.e. synthesis of polyurethane prepolymers, introduction
of unsaturated sites at the free reactive ends of polyurethane prepolymers and copolymerization
of vinyl terminated polyurethane prepolymers with n-butyl acrylate. Also, these copolymers
were applied on textile fabric as finishing agent and their effect was assessed by different
standard textile tests.