Copolyester Elastomer

copolyester elastomer, also called copolyester thermoplastic elastomer, a synthetic rubber consisting of hard polyester crystallites dispersed in a soft, flexible matrix. Because of this twin-phase composition, copolyester elastomers are thermoplastic elastomers, materials that have the elasticity of rubber but also can be molded and remolded like plastic. Among many applications, they are made into solid tires and other automotive parts—particularly where resistance to heat, chemicals, and oil is required. A prominent copolyester elastomer is Hytrel, a trademarked product of DuPont Company in the United States.

Copolyester elastomers are block copolymers—that is, the two different types of chemical repeating units that make up the chainlike molecules occur in long sequences, or blocks. The hard sequences usually consist of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), a stiff polyester resin. The soft sequences consist of any one of a number of polyesters or polyethers, such as polytetramethylene ether glycol. Upon cooling from a melt, the PBT sequences spontaneously cluster together in hard crystalline domains that connect the softer elastomeric sequences. The hard and soft regions are thus held together by mechanical interlocking and by strong intermolecular attractions, but they are not chemically interlinked into a permanent network as is the case with traditional vulcanized rubbers. For this reason, copolyester elastomers can be heated above the melting point of the crystalline domains (approximately 200 °C [390 °F]) and then reprocessed—a property ideal for recycling. They retain their useful rubbery properties between –50 and 150 °C (–60 and 300 °F).