Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, GR-26504 Patras, Greece.
FORTH/ICE-HT, Stadiou Street, P.O. Box 1414, GR-26504 Patras, Greece.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 23;23(15):8118. doi: 10.3390/ijms23158118.
Self-healing materials and self-healing mechanisms are two topics that have attracted huge scientific interest in recent decades. Macromolecular chemistry can provide appropriately tailored functional polymers with desired healing properties. Herein, we report the incorporation of glycidyl methacrylate-based (GMA) copolymers in waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) and the study of their potential healing ability. Two types of copolymers were synthesized, namely the hydrophobic P(BA-co-GMAy) copolymers of GMA with n-butyl acrylate (BA) and the amphiphilic copolymers P(PEGMA-co-GMAy) of GMA with a poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) macromonomer. We demonstrate that the blending of these types of copolymers with two WPUs leads to homogenous composites. While the addition of P(BA-co-GMAy) in the WPUs leads to amorphous materials, the addition of P(PEGMA-co-GMAy) copolymers leads to hybrid composite systems varying from amorphous to semi-crystalline, depending on copolymer or blend composition. The healing efficiency of these copolymers was explored upon application of two external triggers (addition of water or heating). Promising healing results were exhibited by the final composites when water was used as a healing trigger.
自愈合材料和自愈合机制是近几十年来引起巨大科学兴趣的两个主题。高分子化学可以为具有所需愈合性能的功能聚合物提供适当的定制。本文报道了甲基丙烯酸缩水甘油酯基（GMA）共聚物在水性聚氨酯（WPUs）中的掺入及其潜在愈合能力的研究。合成了两种类型的共聚物，即 GMA 与正丁基丙烯酸酯（BA）的疏水 P（BA-co-GMAy）共聚物和 GMA 与聚（乙二醇）甲基醚甲基丙烯酸酯（PEGMA）大分子单体的两亲共聚物 P（PEGMA-co-GMAy）。我们证明，将这两种类型的共聚物与两种 WPUs 共混可得到均匀的复合材料。虽然 P（BA-co-GMAy）在 WPUs 中的添加导致无定形材料，但 P（PEGMA-co-GMAy）共聚物的添加导致复合体系从无定形到半结晶，这取决于共聚物或共混物的组成。在外加两种触发条件（加水或加热）的情况下，对这些共聚物的愈合效率进行了研究。当水作为愈合触发条件时，最终复合材料表现出有希望的愈合效果。
