Cationic CO_(2)-based Waterborne Polyurethane with High Solid Content and Excellent Ageing Resistance

High solid content CO_(2)-based cationic waterborne polyurethanes(CWPUs)were prepared using CO_(2)-polyols as soft segment and Nmethyl diethanolamine(MDEA)as hydrophilic group.The resulting stable aqueous dispersion displayed a high solid content of 52%with a low MDEA loading of 3.52 wt%.This novel structural CWPU can provide excellent adhesive strength,whose T-peel strength could reach 173.48N/5cm,20%higher than that of ester-based cationic waterborne polyurethane(87.55 N/5cm).The CO_(2)-based CWPU film showed only 2 wt%swelling percentage after 240 min immersion in water,and no change was observed during its immersion in 5 wt%sodium hydroxide solution.The tensile strength of CO_(2)-WPUs dropped slowly to 91.2%after 480 min immersion in a 5 wt%sodium hydroxide solution,whereas that of esterbased CWPUs dropped quickly to 32%after 240 min and their mechanical properties were lost after 360 min immersion.Meanwhile,the retention of the tensile strength of the CO_(2)-CWPUs was 81.5%even after 720 min immersion in 10 wt%H_(2)O_(2) solution,while it was only ca.38%for the ester-based CWPUs.These results indicated that the cationic CO_(2)-based CWPU may be promising waterborne adhesive with outstanding ageing resistance due to its synergistic effect from carbonate and ether groups of CO_(2)-polyol structure.