Biobased and Recyclable Polyurethane for Room-Temperature Damping and Three-Dimensional Printing

Abstract

Petroleum-based polymer materials heavily rely on nonrenewable petrochemical resources, and damping materials are an important category of them. As far as green chemistry, recycling, and damping materials are concerned, there is an urgent need for renewable and recyclable biobased materials with high damping performance. Thus, this study designs and synthesizes a series of polylactic acid-based thermoplastic polyurethanes (PLA-based TPUs) composed of modified polylactic acid polyols, 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and 1,4-butanediol. PLA-based TPUs, as prepared, display excellent mechanical properties, damping performance, and biocompatibility. Otherwise, they can be used for three-dimensional printing (3D printing). Under multiple recycling, the overall performance of PLA-based TPUs is still maintained well. Overall, PLA-based TPUs, as designed in this article, show a potential application in damping materials under room temperature and personalized shoes via 3D printing and could realize resource recycling and material reuse.