Glass transition temperature as a unified parameter to design self-healable elastomers.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38985860.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adp0729 and PMC identifier 11235161.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Self-healing ability of materials, particularly polymers, improves their functional stabilities and lifespan. To date, the designs for self-healable polymers have relied on specific intermolecular interactions or chemistries. We report a design methodology for self-healable polymers based on glass transition. Statistical copolymer series of two monomers with different glass transition temperatures (<i>T</i><sub>g</sub>) were synthesized, and their self-healing tendency depends on the <i>T</i><sub>g</sub> of the copolymers and the constituents. Self-healing occurs more efficiently when the difference in <i>T</i><sub>g</sub> between two monomer units is larger, within a narrow <i>T</i><sub>g</sub> range of the copolymers, irrespective of their functional groups. The self-healable copolymers are elastomeric and nonpolar. The strategy to graft glass transition onto self-healing would expand the scope of polymer design.