INS9-0103
ROOM-TEMPERATURE SELF-HEALING GLASSY THERMOSETTING POLYMERS VIA DEFECTIVE NETWORK DESIGN
Topic
S9. Polymer Technology for Sustainability
When and Where
Sep 30, 2026
17:15 - 17:30
Room 201
Session Chairs
Soon Hyeok Hong
Presenter(s)
Jinrong Wu (Sichuan University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Glassy polymers are mechanically robust and have been used as hard plastics for a wide range of applications. However, polymers are incapable of self-repair in the glassy state due to the frozen molecular chains. In 2018, Aida et al. challenged this perception, reporting a glassy poly(ether-thiourea) (TUEG3) that was mechanically robust but self-healable at room temperature under an external compression force.[1] In addition, some new room-temperature self-healing glassy polymers have been reported recently, including our glassy random hyperbranched polymers in 2020.[2] However, all of these polymers are thermoplastics without covalent networks. For glassy thermosets, the covalent cross-links impose strong restrictions on the mobility of polymer chains, in addition to the vitrification state. Therefore, even when carrying reversible covalent networks with topology freezing point temperature (Tv) well below Tg, the thermosets still cannot be healed in the glassy state. Here we report a room-temperature self-healing glassy thermoset (ShGT) enabled by designing a disulfide-bond and H-bond hybridized network carrying abundant dangling chains, which are commonly known as network “defects”.[3] However, the “defects” do not plasticize the polymer, as they are bound to network chains through H-bonds. Therefore, the polymer possesses high modulus and strength at room temperature. Importantly, the “defects” can drive the metathesis reaction of disulfide bonds and the rearrangement of H-bonds in the glassy state, enabling the thermosetting network to self-heal at and even below room temperature.
