A series of self-healing waterborne polyurethane (WPU) films utilizing reversible covalent bond acylhydrazones diol (PA) as chain extender were successfully synthesized. The self-healing performance of WPU with different content of chain extender PA has been systemically characterized via cut-and-healing tests and mechanical quantitative evaluation. The film can repair cracks through acylhydrazone exchange reactions within 12 h. When the content of PA is 1.5 wt%, the WPU has the highest self-healing efficiency of 90.5%. Meanwhile, the effect of PA mass fraction on the particle size distribution, mechanical ability, crystallization, water resistance properties, and thermal stability of WPU were evaluated. With the introduction of acylhydrazone bonds, the hydrophobicity of the WPU material was enhanced, while achieving self-healing performance, which solves the problem of aging and replacement of materials. These results indicated that the self-healing WPU exhibited great application prospect as a versatile material.acylhydrazones, reversible covalent bond, self-healing, waterborne polyurethane
| INTRODUCTIONPolyurethane (PU) is extensively applicable polymer materials, and it has been broadly used in various fields such as adhesives, foam materials, elastomers biomaterials, and so forth due to its excellent mechanical property, desirable molecular adaptability and good processing ability. However, the development of traditional PU products has been limited because of the utilization of organic solvents. Waterborne polyurethane (WPU) materials possess the excellent properties as those of traditional PU products have, such as outstanding mechanical property, excellent flexibility and multi-adaptability. Meanwhile, WPU materials are low toxicity and reduced