Original Article
  • Effect of Cork Extract on the Mechanical Property of Thermoplastic Polyurethane
  • Taehoon Oh*, Seung-Hyun Cho**, Bumyong Yoon*, Hyejung Yoon*, Jonghwan Suhr*, ***†

  • * Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University
    ** Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University
    *** Department of Mechanical Engineering

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is a material whose mechanical properties change according to the phase separation of its unique internal microstructure and is therefore used in various industries. Use of TPU as composites helps in improving the desirable characteristics and properties in accordance with usage. Eco-friendly fillers one of the fillers are on the rise and those are mostly used for reinforcing role. Suberin, which can be extracted from cork, is the main component of cork. It is known to serve high damping property of elastomer composite. The original chemical structure of Suberin is an aliphatic polyester aggregate. In this research, Suberin is obtained after depolymerization into an oligomer having 2 or 3 ester bonds through alkaline hydrolysis. The extracted suberin was added to the matrix which is thermoplastic polyurethane as an eco-friendly filler for improving vibration damping property. As a result, when 10 wt% of suberin was added into thermoplastic polyurethane the existing trade-off relationship was overcome. And it is attained the elastic modulus and damping factor at room temperature improving 92 and 59%, respectively, compared to the original matrix. Those results are from the interaction between the microstructure of TPU and suberin


Keywords: Thermoplastic polyurethane, Suberin, Mechanical property

This Article

Correspondence to

  • Jonghwan Suhr
  • * Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University
    *** Department of Mechanical Engineering

  • E-mail: suhr@skku.edu