Well-defined methacrylate copolymer having reactive maleimide pendants for fabrication of thermally-labile crosslinked networks with robust self-healing

• Published in: Materials today communications 2017-12, Vol.13, p.241-247
• Main Authors: Jung, Sungmin, Oh, Jung Kwon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atom transfer radical polymerization; Diels-Alder chemistry; Methacrylate copolymers; Self-healability
• ISSN: 2352-4928; 2352-4928
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2017.09.008

[Display omitted] •A new methacrylate copolymer having reactive maleimide pendants.•Effective polymeric dienophile reactive with various polyfurans.•Fabrication of thermally-labile networks at room temperature.•Robust self-healability through thermoreversible reactions at elevated temperatures.•Balance of thermal and physical properties being important toward robust self-healing. The versatility of well-defined methacrylate random copolymer having reactive maleimide pendants (CoPMA) toward robust thermoreversibility and self-healability is reported. The CoPMA is synthesized by a controlled radical polymerization, thus being capable for the control of maleimide pendant density and chain length (i.e. molecular weight). The CoPMA is proved to be an effective polymeric dienophile yielding thermally-labile networks at room temperature with newly-synthesized polyfurans: a small-molecule difunctional furan (DFu) and a polymeric furan (CoPFuMA). The fabricated networks are dynamic at elevated temperatures through retro-Diels/Alder (rDA)/DA reaction, leading to rapid self-healing of micron-sized cuts on CoPMA/DFu films, compared with CoPMA/CoPFuMA films.