Crosslinkable poly(propylene carbonate): High‐yield synthesis and performance improvement

Abstract

Abstract A crosslinking strategy was used to improve the thermal and mechanical performance of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC): PPC bearing a small moiety of pendant CC groups was synthesized by the terpolymerization of allyl glycidyl ether (AGE), propylene oxide (PO), and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Almost no yield loss was found in comparison with that of the PO and CO 2 copolymer when the concentration of AGE units in the terpolymer was less than 5 mol %. Once subjected to UV‐radiation crosslinking, the crosslinked PPC film showed an elastic modulus 1 order of magnitude higher than that of the uncrosslinked one. Moreover, crosslinked PPC showed hot‐set elongation at 65 °C of 17.2% and permanent deformation approaching 0, whereas they were 35.3 and 17.2% for uncrosslinked PPC, respectively. Therefore, the PPC application window was enlarged to a higher temperature zone by the crosslinking strategy. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5329–5336, 2006