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

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 degrees C, and the glass transition temperatureT(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.