Evaluation of Swelling Studies and Thermal Characteristics of Castor Oil Based

onventional crosslinked polyurethane elastomers are composed ofC alternating soft segments and hard (urethane linkage) segments. The soft segments are usually those of polyester or polyether dihydroxyl polyols. In these elastomers, the crosslinking in the polymer chain is in-troduced by the addition of a low molecular weight trihydroxyl polyol. These typical crosslinked elastomers are found to possess extensive hydrogen bonding [1], and some degree of microphase hard domain sepa-ration is also reported [2], which are collectively responsible for the good thermal stability of these materials. The aim of this work is to evaluate various thermal characteristics and the swelling behaviour of crosslinked elastomeric polyurethane. This study incorporates the synthesis of elastomeric networks, via a triol-diisocyanate-triol combination. This elastomeric polymer is envisaged to possess a three dimensional morphology along with high level of crosslinked sites in the polymer, since during the polymerization process, the trifunctional soft segment leads to &dquo;simultaneous&dquo; chain extension and crosslinking (formation of hard segment)