Sustainable
polyurethane dispersion with smart properties has enormous potential
in the polymer industries because of its unique and environmentally
friendly characteristics. Biodegradable water dispersion thermoplastic
polyurethanes (WBPUs) with self-healing capability were synthesized,
and they were water-dispersible after neutralization with triethylamine
(TEA). The biobased macroglycol and chain extender were synthesized
via the catalyst-based esterification reactions of dimer acid (DA),
poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG-200), citric acid (CA), and glycerol. Three
different compositions of WBPUs were synthesized by reacting poly(ε-caprolactone)
diol (PCL, M.W ∼ 2000 g/mol) and biobased macroglycol with
aliphatic and aromatic diisocyanates in the presence of various amounts
of branch generating unit. FT-IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR,
GPC, and XRD analyses of WBPUs were conducted to study the physicochemical
structure, crystallinity, and molecular weight. The WBPUs exhibited
high elongation at break (678.9–485.3%), toughness (51.49–32.6MJ
m–3), tensile strength (9.26–7.82 MPa), scratch
hardness (3.5–2 kg), gloss at 60° (25.4–15.6°),
impact resistance (8.95–8.33 kJ/m), and chemical resistance.
Furthermore, these WBPUs possessed microwave assisted self-healing
and UV-aging characteristics, and they were found to be biodegradable.