Depolymerization behavior of thermoplastic poly(urethane) (TPU) and its dependence on initial molecular weight

The quantitative and qualitative depolymerization behavior of thermoplastic poly(urethane) (TPU) consisting of 4,4′-methylenediphenyldiisocyanate (MDI), 1,6-hexanediol (HD) and 1-hexanol (HEX) was described using temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The depolymerization behavior could be altered by lowering the starting molecular weight. This resulted not only in a higher ceiling temperature, but also in a faster decrease of the molecular weight as a function of temperature once the depolymerization has started. The increase in the ceiling temperature for low molecular weight TPUs is attributed to the lower entropy of polymerization for these compounds compared to high molecular weight TPUs.