Urethanes as reversible covalent moieties in self-healing polymers

Kuhl, Nathasha; Abend, Markus; Geithner, Robert; Vitz, Jürgen; Zechel, Stefan; Schmitt, Michael; Popp, Jürgen; Schubert, Ulrich S.; Hager, Martin D.

Abstract:

For the first time, reversible covalent urethane units are used for the design of new self-healing polymers. For this purpose, an electron-poor diol was synthesized and utilized as crosslinker to create a dynamic polymer network. Therefore, the diol, butyl methacrylate as well as 2-isocyanato ethyl methacrylate are intermixed and photo-polymerized in a bone-shaped PTFE mold. The resulting test specimens are characterized by DSC, TGA and DMTA and the self-healing behavior is studied using tensile tests. Thereby, healing efficiencies of up to 85% could be reached while the material exhibits good mechanical properties with high E-moduli. Additionally, the self-healing mechanism, which is based on exchange reactions of the reversible urethane moieties, is investigated by Raman as well as temperature dependent IR measurements.

Research areas:

• Polymer Science

Year:

2018

Type of Publication:

Article

Journal:

European Polymer Journal

Volume:

104

Pages:

45 - 50

DOI:

10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2018.04.027