Background

Currently available bioderived and/or elastomers based on recoverable monomers are not easily tunable, exhibit poor mechanical properties, and exhibit glass transition temperature values above −40°C, greatly limiting their applications. Commercial petroleum-derived polyurethanes are highly resistant to degradation and are environmentally unfriendly. Using recoverable aliphatic polyesters to produce thermoplastic elastomers requires rigorous reaction conditions and yields materials with poor solvent resistance, low thermal stability, and significant stress softening (Mullins effect). This method overcomes these obstacles by combining a MVL monomer and crosslinking methods. The low glass transition temperature allows these polymers to be used at lower temperatures than other biodegradable polymers and could be used in tires, gaskets, seals adhesive, sealant and damping products.