A human muscle-inspired, high strength, good elastic recoverability, room-temperature self-healing, and recyclable polyurethane elastomer based on dynamic bonds

Abstract

Polyurethane elastomers have been widely used in aerospace engineering, intelligent electronics, smart buildings, and other high-tech fields. However, preparing polyurethane elastomers with self-healing at room temperature, high toughness, and strength, remains a significant challenge. Hence, inspired by human muscles, A room-temperature self-healing and recyclable polyurethane elastomer was developed. This elastomer possesses tough, high strength, and good elastic recoverability by adjusting the structure of its hard domains. In detail, the obtained polyurethane elastomers exhibit a high tensile strength of 30.3 MPa, an elongation at break of 1114.6 %, toughness of 126.4 MJ/m3, fracture energy of 96.4 kJ/m2, and remarkable anti-fatigue properties as demonstrated by cyclic tensile. Meanwhile, the introduction of asymmetric aliphatic ring structure into the hard domain structure is beneficial for accelerating the exchange rate of dynamic bonds in polyurethane elastomers, resulting in a healing efficiency is up to 90.8 %. In addition, the mechanical properties of the resultant polyurethane elastomers are not lost after being recycled three times. Finally, the polyurethane elastomer is used as the substrate for electromagnetic shielding material, and the electromagnetic shielding efficiency was investigated. This study demonstrates the design of self-healing elastomers at room temperature with high toughness and strength, which provides a new avenue for the development of sustainable electronic materials in the future.