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

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/m^(3)),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.

A Triple Crosslinking Design toward Epoxy Vitrimers and Carbon Fiber Composites of High Performance and Multi-shape Memory

It remains a challenge to use a simple approach to fabricate a multi-shape memory material with high mechanical performances.Here,we report a triple crosslinking design to construct a multi-shape memory epoxy vitrimer(MSMEV),which exhibits high mechanical properties,multi-shape memory property and malleability.The triple crosslinking network is formed by reacting diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F(DGEBF)with 4-aminophenyl disulfide,γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane(APTS)and poly(propylene glycol)bis(2-aminopropyl ether)(D2000).The triple crosslinking manifests triple functions:the disulfide bonds and the silyl ether linkages enable malleability of the epoxy network;the silyl ether linkages impart the network with high heterogeneity and broaden the glass transition region,leading to multi-shape memory property;a small amount of D2000 increases the modulus difference between the glassy and rubbery states,thereby improving the shape fixity ratio.Meanwhile,the high crosslinking density and rigid structure provide the MSMEV with high tensile strength and Young’s modulus.Moreover,integrating carbon fibers and MSMEV results in shape memory composites.The superior mechanical properties of the composites and the recyclability of carbon fiber derived from the dissolvability of MSMEV make the composites hold great promise as structural materials in varied applications.

Enhanced Mechanics in Injection Molded Isotactic Polypropylene/Polypropylene Random Copolymer Blends via Introducing Network-like Crystal Structure

The crystallization behavior, rheological behavior, mechanical properties and microstructures of injection molded isotactic polypropylene （iPP）, polypropylene random copolymer （co-PP） and iPP/co-PP blends were investigated. Differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and dynamic rheological analysis illustrated that iPP and co-PP were compatible in the blends and co-PP uniformly dispersed in the/PP phase. Polarizing optical microscope （POM） was adopted to observe the crystal size and morphology evolution. The results of mechanical properties and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） indicated that the crystal size of iPP in iPP/co-PP blends （10 wt% co-PP ＋ 90 wt% iPP and 30 wt% co-PP ＋ 70 wt% iPP） radically decreased after the incorporation of co-PP. During crystallization, the molecular chain segments of co-PP could penetrate iPP spherulites and form a network-like crystalline structure. The network-like crystal structure could effectively transmit stress and consume more energy to overcome intermolecular forces to resist stretching. In this way, the strength would improve to a certain degree. The impact fracture mechanism of iPP/co-PP blends is quasi ductile fracture by multiple crazes. Our work discovered that the blends containing 10 wt% and 30 wt% ofco-PP exhibited prominent toughness and reinforcement.