Polyurethane comprising graphene nano structure
Described herein is a polyurethane including a reaction product of an isocyanate component, a polyol component, and graphene nano platelets. The graphene nano platelets are reacted in an amount of from about 0.1 to about 20% by weight, based on a total weight of the polyurethane. The graphene nano platelets have an average lateral dimension (x, y) of from about 1 to about 100 μm, an average through-plane dimension (z) of from about 5 to about 100 nm, and an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 10% by weight, based on a total weight of the graphene nano platelets.
1. A polyurethane comprising a reaction product of:
an isocyanate component;
a polyol component;
an aromatic diol having from 8 to 24 carbon atoms; and
from about 0.1 to about 20% by weight, based on a total weight of the polyurethane, of graphene nano platelets, and an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 10% by weight based on a total weight of said graphene nano platelets.
2. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 wherein said graphene nano platelets have:
an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 5% by weight based on 100 percent by weight of the graphene nano platelets.
3. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 comprising about 0.1 to about 5% by weight of said graphene nano platelets based on the total weight of said polyurethane.
4. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 comprising:
an isocyanate prepolymer comprising the reaction product of said isocyanate component comprising an aromatic isocyanate, said polyol component, said aromatic diol having from 8 to 24 carbon atoms; and said graphene nano platelets; and
at least one of a polyol, a diol, or an amine.
5. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 wherein said polyol component comprises a polyether polyol.
6. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 wherein said polyol component comprises a polyester polyol.
7. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 wherein said polyol component comprises a polyol formed from tetrahydrofuran and/or caprolactone.
8. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 having a hard block content of from about 50 to about 95 molar %.
9. A polyurethane as set forth in claim 1 which is further defined as a polyurethane cast elastomer, a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer, a polyurethane foam, or a polyurethane adhesive.
10. An isocyanate prepolymer having an isocyanate content of from about 4 to about 30% by weight, said prepolymer comprising a reaction product of:
an aromatic isocyanate;
a polyol;
an aromatic diol having from 8 to 24 carbon atoms; and
from about 0.1 to about 20% by weight, based on a total weight of the isocyanate prepolymer, of graphene nano platelets, and an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 10% by weight based on the total weight of said graphene nano platelets.
11. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 wherein said graphene nano platelets have:
an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 5% by weight based on 100 percent by weight of the graphene nano platelets.
12. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 comprising about 0.1 to about 5% by weight of said graphene nano platelets based on the total weight of said isocyanate prepolymer.
13. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of from about 100 to about 5,000.
14. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 having an isocyanate content from about 5 to about 20% by weight.
15. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 wherein said polyol comprises a polyether polyol.
16. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 wherein said polyol comprises a polyester polyol.
17. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 wherein said aromatic isocyanate comprises methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and/or polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate.
18. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 wherein said polyol comprises a polyol formed from tetrahydrofuran and/or caprolactone.
19. An isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 18 wherein said polyol formed from tetrahydrofuran and/or caprolactone is further defined as a block copolymer comprising polymerized polytetrahydrofuran and polycapralactone blocks.
20. A polyurethane elastomer comprising the reaction product of:
said isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 18 ;
an aliphatic diol having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms and/or an amine; and
optionally one or more polyols;
wherein said polyurethane elastomer has a hard block content of from about 50 to about 95 molar % based on a total equivalent of said aliphatic diol and/or said amine divided by a total equivalent of NCO used to form said polyurethane elastomer.
21. A polyurethane elastomer comprising
said isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 ;
wherein said polyurethane elastomer has a hard block content of from about 50 to about 95 molar % based on a total equivalent of said aromatic diol divided by a total equivalent of NCO used to form said polyurethane elastomer.
22. A thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer formed with the isocyanate prepolymer as set forth in claim 10 .
23. A method of forming an isocyanate prepolymer having a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of from about 100 to about 5,000 g/mol, said method comprising the step of reacting:
an aromatic isocyanate;
a polyol;
an aromatic diol having from 8 to 24 carbon atoms; and
from about 0.1 to about 20% by weight, based on a total weight of the isocyanate prepolymer, of graphene nano platelets, and an oxygen content of from about 0.01 to about 10% by weight based on a total weight of said graphene nano platelets.
24. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the step of reacting is substantially free of solvent.
25. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the aromatic isocyanate comprises methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and/or the polyol is selected from the group consisting of polyether polyols, polyester polyols, natural oil polyols, polydiene polyols, and combinations thereof.
26. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the graphene nano platelets have:
an oxygen content of from about 0.7 to about 5% by weight based on 100 percent by weight of the graphene nano platelets.
27. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the isocyanate prepolymer comprises about 0.1 to about 5% by weight of the graphene nano platelets, based on the total weight of the isocyanate prepolymer.
28. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the step of reacting the aromatic isocyanate, the polyol, and the graphene nano platelets includes the steps of:
adding the isocyanate into a reaction vessel;
mixing the polyol and the graphene nano platelets to form an isocyanate reactive mixture; and
incrementally adding the isocyanate reactive mixture to the reaction vessel.
29. A method as set forth in claim 23 further comprising the step of forming a cast elastomer by:
heating the isocyanate prepolymer to a temperature of 20 to 150° C.; and
combining the isocyanate prepolymer with an aliphatic diol having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms.
30. A method as set forth in claim 29 wherein the step of heating is further defined as heating the isocyanate prepolymer to a temperature of 50 to 130° C.
31. A method as set forth in claim 30 further comprising the step of post curing the cast elastomer at a temperature of from about 100 to about 200° C.
32. A method as set forth in claim 23 which is substantially free of solvent.