Facile Preparation and Study of Self‐Healing Water‐Absorbing Expanding Elastomers

• Published in: Chemistry : a European journal 2024-12, Vol.30 (67), p.e202402417-n/a
• Main Authors: Lu, Wentong, Liu, Fengyi, Zhu, Yiyao, Wang, Jincheng, Tian, Hao, Zhou, Peilong, Li, Long
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorbents; Aerospace engineering; Construction industry; Continuous production; Dipole interactions; Dual packing strategy; Elastomers; Filling; Healing; Infrastructure; Large-scale continuous production; Monitoring of the working environment; Project engineering; Room temperature; Room temperature self-healing; Sealing; Tunnel construction; Water suction expansion sealing
• ISSN: 0947-6539; 1521-3765; 1521-3765
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.202402417

The absorbent expansion elastomer plays a crucial role in engineering sealing and holds a promising future in this field as infrastructure continues to develop. Traditional materials have their limitations, especially when used in large construction projects where the integrity and reliability of the material are of utmost importance. In this work, a self‐healing water‐absorbing expansion elastomer was developed for continuous production at a large scale to monitor the sealing conditions of massive infrastructure projects. At room temperature, the material exhibited a repairing efficiency of 57.77 % within 2 h, which increased to 84.02 % after 12 h. This extended reaction time allowed for effective repairs when defects were detected. The material's strength can attain 3 MPa, placing it at the upper echelon among common self‐healing materials, thereby granting it a certain level of durability in its application environment. The material's volume expansion rate reached 200–400 % to achieve effective sealing, and the functional filling of the filler endowed the material itself with a favorable external force induction effect and prevented heat accumulation. The conductive detection performance of the absorbent expansion elastomer was improved by utilizing triple self‐healing strategies, including dipole‐dipole interaction, ion cross‐linked network, and externally‐aided restoration materials. These strategies were combined with a double packing strategy to enhance the material's properties. This innovative elastomer can be applied in various fields such as tunnel construction, infrastructure development, aerospace sealing, and railway transportation, showcasing significant potential for diverse engineering applications. This work to different environments of the three main means of self‐heal in addition to the other two replication of the repair of the three cyclic alternation to cope with the alternation of different environments, the combination of fillers for the elastomer to provide water‐absorbing expansion effect and electrical sensors to detect the function of the construction of a multi‐environmental self‐healing water‐absorbing expansion of elastomers