Thermal decomposition behavior of blocked diisocyanates derived from mixture of blocking agents

To improve the performance and reduce raw material costs, blocked isocyanates were prepared with mixture of blocking agents in many industries. Three blocked isocyanates (adducts) namely ε-caprolactam/benzotriazole- blocked 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI) and 4,4′-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (H₁₂MDI) were synthesized. Six reference adducts were also prepared by blocking MDI, TDI, and H₁₂MDI with ε-caprolactam (ε-CL) or benzotriazole. The reactions were carried out in acetone medium and dibutyltin dilaurate (DBTDL) was used as a catalyst. The progress of the blocking reaction was monitored by IR spectroscopy. De-blocking temperatures (dissociation temperatures) of these adducts were studied using DSC and TGA and the results were correlated. As expected, the thermal analysis data showed that de-blocking temperature of blocked aromatic isocyanates was lower than that of the blocked aliphatic isocyanates. The low de-blocking temperature of blocked aromatic isocyanate could be due to electron withdrawing benzene ring present in the blocked isocyanates. It was also found that benzotriazole-blocked adducts de-blocked at higher temperature compared with ε-CL-blocked adducts.