In recent years,
advanced materials with properties resembling
biological systems, particularly artificial muscles, have received
intense scrutiny. This is because the interesting conformational shape
characteristics of such materials have benefited a variety of technologies,
including textiles, 3D printing, and medical devices. Although a multitude
of shape memory properties have been studied and developed in recent
years, self-healing of these polymers after puncture or rupture has
also become a major area of study. Most techniques for detection of
such processes are mechanically based and require considerable hands-on
monitoring. Thus, a rapid visual detection method for self-healing
is highly desirable. Herein, we describe fluorescence studies for
rapid detection of self-healing properties of a partially neutralized
sodium ionomer poly(ethylene-
co
-methacrylic acid)
(PEMA). In this study, two different fluorophores, parent non-ionic
4,6-dipyrenylpyrimidine and ionic 4,6-dipyrenylpyrimidinium iodide
fluorophores, were evaluated as possible sensors of self-healing.
Incorporation of these probes via solution blending and compatibility
into a PEMA of these fluorophores were evaluated. Thermal characterizations
using differential scanning calorimetry were also performed to elucidate
physical characteristics of healed sites. Ratiometric fluorescence
emission variations were explored within puncture-healed ionomer films
and related to Young’s modulus properties with good linearity,
indicating potential utility of this approach for monitoring elastic
modulus properties after healing has occurred. Further statistical
analyses of mechanical processes using quadratic discriminant analysis
resulted in development of several highly accurate predictive models
for determining time since damage healing.