Long Chain Polyesters Derived From Tetradecanedioic Acid (TA) and Even-numbered Diols

Abstract

Long-chain polyesters were prepared by melt polymerization using tetradecanedioic acid (TA) and aliphatic diols containing C2-10 as raw materials. The materials were characterised using a range of analytical techniques, including tensile testing, rheological testing, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). An investigation was conducted to ascertain the impact of diol chain length on a number of characteristics, including mechanical properties, crystalline structures, chemical composition, thermal stability, and thermal transition properties. All polyesters had high weight-average molecular weights (> 57000 g/mol). In addition, the crystallization temperature and melting temperature were affected by the chain length of diols. Poly(ethylene tetradecanedioate) (PETd) had a higher crystallization temperature (69.1 °C) and melting temperature (89.0 °C) compared to the other four polyesters, which may be due to its short-chain structure and the kink structures. All polyesters have the same crystal structure like polyethylene. In addition, poly(ethylene tetradecanedioate) (PETd), poly(butylene tetradecanedioate) (PBTd), and poly(octenyl tetradecanedioate) (POTd) exhibited polyethylene-like mechanical properties with comparable tensile strength and elongation at break. It is anticipated that bio-based polyesters will prove to be a highly promising material.