Investigation of swelling, mechanical and recycling properties of heat-repairing materials

Abstract

In this study, a cross-linked polymer with a heat-repairing function was synthesized based on the Diels–Alder (DA) reaction. The swelling test showed that the material exhibited good thermal sensitivity to an aqueous solution and showed swelling and de-swelling behavior with a change of temperature. DSC and DMA tests showed that the temperature range of the retro Diels–Alder (rDA) reaction of the material was about 80–110 °C, and the glass transition temperature T_g decreased with the increase of the polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether-furfurylamine (PEGFA) content. Tensile tests showed that the mechanical properties of the material changed regularly with the change of composition. The sample with a certain stoichiometric ratio exhibited a regular micro-separation microstructure, which confirmed its rapid swelling ability and adequate mechanical properties. For the first time, we used ethanol as a solvent to achieve the complete recovery of the material. The tensile test of the recycled–reshaped material showed almost identical properties as the raw material. The synthesized material has excellent application potential in environmental protection recycling.