In this work, we propose the use
of regular branching of polyurethanes
as a way to regulate chain dynamics and govern crystallization in
highly dense hydrogen-bonded systems. As a result, robust and healable
polyurethanes can be obtained. To this end, we synthesized a range
of aliphatic propane diol derivatives with alkyl branches ranging
from butyl (C4) to octadecanyl (C18). The series of brush polyurethanes
was synthesized by polyaddition of the diols and hexamethylene diisocyanate.
Polyurethanes with very short (C < 4) and very long (C = 18) brush
lengths did not lead to any significant healing due to crystallization.
An intermediate amorphous regime appears for polymers with middle
branch lengths (C = 4 to 8) showing a fine control of material toughness.
For these systems, the side chain length regulates tube dilation,
and significant macroscopic healing of cut samples was observed and
studied in detail using melt rheology and tensile testing. Despite
the high healing degrees observed immediately after repair, it was
found that samples with medium to long length brushes lost their interfacial
strength at the healed site after being heated to the healing temperature
for some time after the optimal time to reach full healing. Dedicated
testing suggests that annealed samples, while keeping initial tackiness,
are not able to completely heal the cut interface. We attribute such
behavior to annealing-induced interfacial crystallization promoted
by the aliphatic branches. Interestingly, no such loss of healing
due to annealing was observed for samples synthesized with C4 and
C7 diols, which is identified as the optimal healing regime. These
results point at the positive effect of branching on healing, provided
that a critical chain length is not surpassed, as well as the need
to study healing behavior long after the optimal healing times.