Reversible Self-Healing Carbon-Based Nanocomposites for Structural Applications

Abstract

Reversible Hydrogen Bonds (RHB) have been explored to confer self-healing function to multifunctional nanocomposites. This study has been carried out through a sequence of different steps. Hydrogen bonding moieties, with the intrinsic ability to simultaneously perform the functions of both hydrogen donors and acceptors, have been covalently attached to the walls of carbon nanotubes. The epoxy matrix has been modified to adapt the formulation for hosting self-healing mechanisms. It has been toughened with different percentages of rubber phase covalently linked to the epoxy precursor. The most performant matrix, from the mechanical point of view, has been chosen for the incorporation of MWCNTs. Self-healing performance and electrical conductivities have been studied. The comparison of data related to the properties of nanocomposites containing incorporated functionalized and nonfunctionalized MWCNTs has been performed. The values of the electrical conductivity of the self-healing nanocomposites, containing 2.0% by weight of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), range between 6.76 × 10−3 S/m and 3.77 × 10−2 S/m, depending on the nature of the functional group. Curing degrees, glass transition temperatures, and storage moduli of the formulated multifunctional nanocomposites prove their potential for application as functional structural materials.

Combined Molecular Dynamics and DFT Simulation Study of the Molecular and Polymer Properties of a Catechol-Based Cyclic Oligomer of Polyether Ether Ketone

“…The latter is due to the attraction between the π cloud on the C atoms of the C=C bond in one oligomer and the H atom of the second interacting oligomer. Noncovalent bonding interactions of this kind are common in chemical systems where aromatic and/or non-aromatic fragments are in close proximity to each other, such as benzene dimers, epoxy composites, and similar systems that comprise Lewis bases of different types [22][23][24][25][26]38,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. 838 Å, respectively.…”

Disulfide exchange assisted self-healing epoxy/PDMS/graphene oxide nanocomposites

“…11,12 Recyclable/reprocessable thermoset polymers have emerged over the past few years to acquire reliable reprocessing through simple and efficient mechanisms. 13,14 In particular dynamic covalent exchange promoted thermoset materials were demonstrated with recycling and self-healing behavior, [15][16][17][18][19][20] where during reprocessing promising associative exchange results in a concurrent exchange between chains, as introduced by Leibler and coworkers. 21 The reported epoxy vitrimers execute associative exchanges through trans-esterication reactions, and the role of catalysts in exchange reactions was investigated thoroughly.…”

Different Methods of Dispersing Carbon Nanotubes in Epoxy Resin and Initial Evaluation of the Obtained Nanocomposite as a Matrix of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Laminate in Terms of Vibroacoustic Performance and Flammability

“…Nanofilled epoxy resins are unique with respect to other materials for their tailorability and the broad range of properties and related applications. They can be designed to have many distinct properties that may be exploited to develop the next generation of functional or self-responsive materials [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31]. In particular, thermosetting resins filled with specific nanostructured particles can be manufactured to manifest enhanced mechanical, acoustic, electrical, and flame-resistance properties [25,32,33].…”