Aromatic copolyesters with enhanced crystallizability and mechanical properties by adding the renewable nipagin-based composition

摘要

To improve the crystalline and mechanical properties of bio-based polyester materials, highly symmetrical nipagin-derived dimethyl ester is used for the synthesis of polyesters. Aromatic copolyesters, PDN2 _(1? x ) E1 _( x ) and PDN2 _(1? x ) E2 _( x ) ( x = 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%), with high crystallinity are synthesized from bio-based 1,10-decanediol, nipagin and eugenol-derived dimethyl esters via a random copolymerization method. The crystallizability of the copolyesters is emphatically investigated by the content of the two asymmetrical eugenol-derived compositions ( i.e. E1 and E2 ). Not only the appearance of the copolyesters, which present a white powder consistently, but also differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD) and isothermal crystallization analyses verify the strong crystallizability of the copolyesters despite the fact that the crystallinity ( X _(c) ), melting point ( T _(m) ) and corresponding enthalpy (Δ H _(m) ) are found to gradually decrease with the increase in the eugenol-based composition. Furthermore, the tensile assays demonstrate brittle characteristics of the copolyesters and further confirm the strong crystallizability of the nipagin-based PDN2 , a potential candidate for replacement of the petroleum-based polyethylene (butylene) terephthalate (PET, PBT).