Characterization of seawater and weather aged polyurethane elastomer for bend stiffeners

A bend stiffener grade polyurethane (PU) elastomer was physically and mechanically characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and tensile tests. The material was then exposed to artificial seawater and weather up to 12 months to evaluate its stability as bend stiffeners are exposed to this type of environment during offshore operation. The characterization of aged samples was performed comparing the ageing effects on the chemical structure, thermal stability and mechanical properties with those of the non-aged material. The mass variation of aged samples immersed in artificial seawater was also measured. A slight change in the chemical structure led to a color change from dark green to brown in the samples exposed to natural weathering for 12 months. Increases in thermal stability, stiffness and strength characteristics were also verified, which may be associated to additional crosslink formation. In contrast, a significant mechanical property drop was observed for the artificial seawater aged PU, being attributed to a plasticizer effect induced by the ageing fluid. The stress-strain curves were adjusted with the Mooney-Rivlin model allowing the crosslink density estimation. The weather aged PU presented higher crosslink density than seawater aged and non-aged samples.