Non-isocyanate Polyurethane Coating with High Hardness, Superior Flexibility, and Strong Substrate Adhesion

Flexible hard coatings with strong adhesion are critical requirements for several foldable devices and marine applications; however, only a few such coatings have been reported. Herein, we report a non-isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) coating prepared by the epoxy-oligosiloxane nanocluster-amine curing reaction and cyclic carbonate-amine polyaddition, where the former provides the coating with ceramic-like hardness and polymer-like flexibility while the latter polymerization results in NIPU with strong substrate adhesion. The coating is transparent (>92% transmittance), hard (5-7 H), and flexible (2 mm bending diameter). It has strong adhesion to various substrates including aluminum alloy, titanium, steel, glass, ceramic, epoxy, and polyethylene terephthalate (2-8 MPa), which can be attributed to the high density of polar groups in NIPU. Moreover, we can facilely endow the coating with anti-icing, self-cleaning, and anti-smudge capabilities by incorporating amine-terminated low-surface-tension polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to replace a part of the amine curing agent. Particularly, the mechanical properties of NIPU coatings are only slightly affected by the introduction of low-content PDMS since it intends to enrich on the surface. The novel coating has promising future for use in fields of foldable devices and marine applications.

Automated summary

In this study, a non-isocyanate polyurethane (NIPU) coating with ceramic-like hardness and polymer-like flexibility was prepared by the epoxy-oligosiloxane nanocluster-amine curing reaction and cyclic carbonate-amine polyaddition. The coating exhibited strong adhesion to various substrates and could be modified to have anti-icing, self-cleaning, and anti-smudge capabilities. This novel coating has great potential for applications in foldable devices and marine fields.