Vitrimers are covalent polymer networks that can change their topology through thermally activated bond exchange reactions. In this work fully biobased and recyclable vitrimers were developed from epoxidised soybean oil (ESO) and natural glycyrrhizic acid (GL) as it was without additional chemical modification, which avoided the use of nonrenewable petroleum resources and resolved the disposal problems of materials. Due to the unique rigid skeleton of GL, ESO/GL vitrimers showed good thermal stability and mechanical properties. Driven by the transesterification-induced topological network rearrangements, these ESO/GL vitrimers exhibited high performance of welding, repairing and shape memory. They were also recyclable and chemically degradable by ethylene glycol. More importantly, these vitrimers could be used as repairable and recyclable adhesives.

Carbon fiber reinforced epoxy is the most commonly used carbon fiber composite with superior performance. However, the growing demand of carbon fibers reinforced epoxy results in a huge consumption of...

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Epoxy vitrimers based on transesterification reactions (TERs) is a kind of recyclable thermosets which have been developed prosperously in recent years. However, the good thermal performance and the quick network...