Fabrication of a Self-Healing, 3D Printable, and Reprocessable Biobased Elastomer

Abstract

A novel self-healable, fully reprocessable, and inkjet three-dimensional (3D) printable partially biobased elastomer is reported in this work. A long-chain unsaturated diacrylate monomer was first synthesized from canola oil and then cross-linked with a partially oxidized silicon-based copolymer containing free thiol groups and disulfide bonds. The elastomer is fabricated through inkjet 3D printing utilizing the photoinitiated thiol-ene click chemistry and reprocessed by compression molding exploiting the dynamic nature of disulfide bond. Self-healing is enabled by phosphine-catalyzed disulfide metathesis. The elastomer displayed a tensile strength of ∼52 kPa, a breaking strain of ∼24, and ∼86% healing efficiency at 80 °C temperature after 8 h. Moreover, the elastomer showed excellent thermal stability, and the highest thermal degradation temperature was recorded to be ∼524 °C. After reprocessing through compression molding, the elastomer fully recovered its mechanical and thermal properties. These properties of the elastomer yield an ecofriendly alternative of fossil fuel-based elastomers that can find broad applications in soft robotics, flexible wearable devices, strain sensors, health care, and next-generation energy-harvesting and -storage devices.

Reprocessable, Self-Adhesive, and Recyclable Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Composites Using a Catalyst-Free Self-Healing Bio-Based Vitrimer Matrix

“…As the ratio of active hydrogen/epoxy groups increases from 0.6 to 1.0, the storage modulus ( E ′) of the TOTGE–MDA vitrimer at 25 °C increases from 1426 to 1964 MPa. The cross-link density is obtained by the value of E ″ ( T g + 30 °C) according to Flory’s ideal rubber elasticity theory. − As the ratio increases, the cross-link density of the TOTGE–MDA vitrimers increases from 0.87 × 10 –3 to 1.20 × 10 –3 mol/cm 3 (Table ). Generally, the gel content is proportional to the cross-link density of the network. , As the ratio increases from 0.6 to 1.0, the gel content increases from 94.1 ± 0.9 to 99.4 ± 0.2%, which also confirms an increase in the cross-link density.…”

Processing of Self‐Healing Polymers for Soft Robotics

“…Although the technique is promising, to the authors knowledge, no healable soft robots have been manufactured using inkjet printing. However, there have been reports on inkjet printing with self‐healing elastomers, as presented by Rahman et al., [ 294 ] who printed using a thiol‐ene photoreaction and incorporated healing by disulfide cross‐links.…”

Facile and fast preparation of a tung oil-based bendable transparent electrode with mechanical strength and environmental stability via infiltration of silver nanowires into oxygen-inhibited surface layers

“…6b). 34,38,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] The dynamic mechanical properties of the PAMETs were also characterized. As shown in Fig.…”