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This publication highlights the structure–property relationships in several thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs): one poly(ether-block-amide) and two thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers with ester and ether soft blocks. Structural changes are induced by chemical degradation from virgin samples through hydrolysis and oxidation. Molar mass measurements show an exclusive chain scission mechanism for all TPEs, regardless of the chemical modification condition. Mechanical behavior was nevertheless obtained from uniaxial tensile testing and fracture testing while considering the essential work of fracture (EWF) concept. During the macromolecular scission process, elongation at break shows a plateau followed by a drop, while stress at break decreases steadily. Once again, the trend is identical for all TPEs in all conditions considered. The βwp parameter determined using the EWF concept exhibits an interesting sensitivity to scissions (i.e., molar mas decrease). Plotting elongation at break as a function of molar mass reveals a strong correlation between these two parameters. This master curve is particularly remarkable considering the range of TPEs and chemical breakdown pathways considered (hydrolysis and oxidation at several temperatures). Relevant structure–property relationships are proposed, highlighting that molar mass is a predominant parameter for determining the mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-vided by ANRT (CIFRE N°2016/0796). Samples were processed with the kind help of Paulo Ferreira. We also acknowledge the assistance of Sylvie Tencé-Girault, Mickael Premel-Cabic and Nicolas Lacotte, as well as Thomas Bizien and the Synchrotron team.

Polyurethane thermoplastic elastomer (TPU) nanocomposites were prepared by the incorporation of 1 wt% of high-structured carbon black (HSCB), carbon nanofibers (CNF), nanosilica (NS) and nanoclays (NC), following a proper high-shear blending procedure. The TPU nanofilled mechanical properties and morphology was assessed. The nanofillers interact mainly with the TPU hard segments (HS) domains, determining their glass transition temperature, and increasing their melting temperature and enthalpy. A significant improvement upon the modulus, sustained stress levels and deformation capabilities is evidenced. The relationships between the morphology and the nanofilled TPU properties are established, evidencing the role of HS domains on the mechanical response, regardless the nanofiller type., Acknowledgement: The authors wish to thank to the hosting institution, the Institute of Polymer and Composites/I3N of the University of Minho for the facilities and equipment provided for this research. This work was supported by FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through project NANOSens— PTDC/CTM/73465/2006 and FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT— Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID/CTM/50025/2013.

The yield stress of polyacetal (POM) decreases monotonically with the incorporation of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomer in POM/TPU blends as would be anticipated. However, the impact strength of the resultant POM/TPU blends increases initially up to 30% TPU and thereafter decreases with the addition of TPU. Stress relaxation measurements in simple extension were carried out for POM and its blends with 10, 20, and 30% TPU at a constant temperature (30°C). Rate of loss of the relaxation modulus was found to be a nonlinear function of time. It has been demonstrated that the stress relaxation modulus values measured at different strains can be superimposed by a shift along the logarithmic time axis to yield master curves of modulus over an extended time period. It has also been found that while it is possible to determine, at any strain, relaxation curves covering an appreciable time range, the demarcation of linear and nonlinear behavior ranges of stress could not be done for these materials as all the strain values chosen in our experiments were in the region of linear behavior. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.