Basalt microfiber‐reinforced polyurethane elastomer composites (BMF/PUE) were prepared by semi‐prepolymer method in this study. The degree of microphase separation and quantitative analysis of H‐bonding formation in polyurethane were determined by infrared spectroscopy. The fiber surface and the morphology at the tensile fracture interface of the composite materials were observed by scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties of composite materials were further measured on an electronic universal testing machine. Dynamic thermomechanical analysis and acoustic impedance tube were used to study the damping and acoustic properties of composite materials, respectively. The results indicated that the composite material prepared by adding 6 g of basalt microfibers treated with 3 min' crushing had the best overall performance. Compared with the matrix, BMF/PUE showed good sound insulation performance with a much wider effective damping temperature range. On the basis of ensuring its excellent overall performance, the mechanical properties were increased by 50.4% in tensile strength, 28.1% in elongation at break, and 14.2% in tear strength.
The curing kinetics of MDI-based polyurethane elastomers were studied by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The kinetic parameters of the reaction system were calculated by the Kissinger method. The changing activation energy was observed by the Flynn–Wall–Ozawa method and the Friedman method. The results of model free fitting showed that the curing reaction could be divided into two stages, showing a change in reaction order when α > 0.45 and a piecewise curing mechanism function of the MDI-based polyurethane elastomers reaction system was deduced by autocatalytic model. The extrapolation method was used to determine the optimum curing conditions for the system, which can accurately describe the curing process. In addition, the optimal curing conditions are when: the constant temperature curing temperature of the system is 81 °C, the curing time is 29 min, and the post-curing temperature is 203 °C.
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