Robust, thermally conductive and damping rubbers with recyclable and self-healable capability

Abstract

Traditional crosslinked rubbers cannot be reprocessed or recycled due to their permanent covalent crosslink bonds. A facile and effective method is used to construct ionic hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds in carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR), obtaining robust, thermally conductive and damping rubbers with reprocessable and self-healable capability. P-phenylenediamine modified graphene oxide is used to crosslink XNBR in the absence of sulfur and other crosslinking agents. With the increase of modified graphene content, the crosslink density of XNBR increases, the damping properties are improved, and the thermal conductivity increases. The modified graphene is also a reinforcing filler, and XNBR/modified graphene composites exhibit good mechanical properties. XNBR/modified graphene/CuSO4 composites have good mechanical properties, self-healing and reprocessing capabilities because of the existence of dynamic ionic hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds. This facile and effective approach to preparing damping rubbers with self-healing and reprocessing capability opens a promising pathway to fabricate sustainable, multifunctional and high-performance damping materials.