Room temperature self-healable natural rubber

Abstract

In this work, a novel self-healing natural rubber was developed, and the concepts of mixing both covalent and reversible ionic crosslinks bonds were proposed. The developed materials have the capability of repairing themselves and recovering functionality when they are damaged without the need for detection. Evidence that covalent and reversible ionic crosslinks bonds had occurred was determined by the equilibrium swelling test. The tensile properties of the cured rubbers before and after the healing process were measured using a universal tensile tester to obtain healing efficiency of the materials. The results revealed that the developed self-healing natural rubber was able to recover 60% of its initial mechanical properties in a minute and almost 100% in 10 min at room temperature without the aid of any external resources. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the fracture area recuperated with a scar mark after the healing process. Some of the potential products that could benefit from the advantages of these materials include tires, industrial rubber good, cable, hoses, belting, bearing, mounting and foot-wares.