Abstract
The development of smart elastomeric materials with inherent self-repairing abilities after mechanical damage has important technological and scientific implications, particularly in regard to the durability and life cycle of rubber products. The interest in self-healing materials for automotive applications is rapidly growing along with the increasing importance of vehicle scratch quality and quantity. The creation of a reversible network by noncovalent ionic cross-linking in elastomer/rubber blends is an effective approach to generate the self-healing phenomenon, with reprocessing and recycling properties. In this work, thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) were prepared using ethylene–propylene–diene (EPDM) polymers and high-acid-containing thermoplastic ionomers. Along with the general EPDM, maleic anhydride grafted EPDM (EPDM-g-MAH) was also used for the preparation of the TPVs. The strategy was based on a simple ionic crosslinking reaction between the carboxyl groups present in the ionomer and zinc oxide (ZnO), where the formation of reversible Zn2+ salt bondings exhibits the self-healing behavior. The heterogeneous blending of EPDM and ionomers was also used to investigate the thermal and mechanical properties of the TPVs. The experimental findings were further supported by the surface morphology of the fracture surfaces viewed using microscopy. The self-healing behavior of the TPVs has been identified by scratch resistance testing, where the EPDM-g-MAH TPVs showed excellent healing efficiency of the scratch surface. Therefore, this work provides an efficient approach to fabricate new ionically cross-linked thermoplastic vulcanizates with excellent mechanical and self-repairing properties for the skins of automotive interior door trims and instrument panel applications.
Highlights
We considered the effect of sulfur content on the mechanical properties of the EPDM-g-MAH/HA60D composites
These ionic cross-linking domains act as reinforcers to enhance the mechanical properties of the thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs), and the reversible nature of the ionic network serves as an external stimuli to make TPVs recyclable and self-healable
This works reports the preparation of self-healing thermoplastic vulcanizates based on a EPDM polymer and a thermoplastic ionomer (60/40 and 70/30 wt%) by melt-mixing
Summary
Self-healable rubber is expected to contribute to the advanced manufacturing of different automobile parts [1,2]. The concept of developing self-healable materials is highly motivating in rubber technology and engineering [3,4]. Self-healing elastomers for automotive application have attracted tremendous attention for improving the structural reliability and lifetime of the material with respect to damage tolerance [5–8]. A wide range of self-healing elastomers were developed with conventional rubbers and thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) using noncovalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, ionic bonding, and reversible covalent bonding, such as the Diels–Alder reaction [15–18]. There are no such significant studies found in the field of self-healing thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs). From a sustainability point of view, there is an urgent need to develop self-healable and recyclable TPVs
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