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A Robust Self-healing Polyurethane Elastomer Enabled by Tuning the Molecular Mobility and Phase Morphology through Disulfide Bonds

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Abstract

Elastomers with outstanding strength, toughness and healing efficiency are highly promising for many emerging fields. However, it is still a challenge to integrate all these beneficial features in one elastomer. Herein, an asymmetric alicyclic structure adjacent to aromatic disulfide was tactfully introduced into the backbone of polyurethane (PU) elastomer. Specifically, such elastomer (PU-HPS) was fabricated by polycondensing polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and p-hydroxydiphenyl disulfide (HPS) via one-pot method. The molecular mobility and phase morphology of PU-HPS can be tuned by adjusting the HPS content. Consequently, the dynamic exchange of hydrogen and disulfide bonds in the hard segment domains can also be tailored. The optimized sample manifests outstanding tensile strength (46.4 MPa), high toughness (109.1 MJ/m3), high self-healing efficiency after fracture (90.3%), complete scratch recovery (100%) and good puncture resistance. Therefore, this work provides a facile strategy for developing robust self-healing polymers.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51873110), the Foundation of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Natural Rubber Processing and Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber and Functional Polymers (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Ministry of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, College of Polymer Science and Engineerng, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Hai-Tao Wu, Bi-Qiang Jin, Hao Wang, Wen-Qiang Wu, Zhen-Xing Cao, Zhao-Yang Yuan, Yue Huang, Wei-Hang Li, Guang-Su Huang & Jin-Rong Wu

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Natural Rubber Processing, Agricultural Products Processing Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Zhanjiang, 524001, China

    Lu-Sheng Liao

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  1. Hai-Tao Wu
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A Robust Self-healing Polyurethane Elastomer Enabled by Tuning the Molecular Mobility and Phase Morphology through Disulfide Bonds

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Wu, HT., Jin, BQ., Wang, H. et al. A Robust Self-healing Polyurethane Elastomer Enabled by Tuning the Molecular Mobility and Phase Morphology through Disulfide Bonds. Chin J Polym Sci 39, 1299–1309 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-021-2607-y

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