Abstract
Materials that can repair cracks and recover from mechanical failure are desirable for a number of applications, because remendable materials both repair and prevent the propagation of cracks on the micro scale. The remendable materials offer the potential for increased durability, safety, and cost efficiency. This work is focused on remendable gels that contain thermoreversible bonds formed through the Diels-Alder (DA) reactionof furan (a diene) and maleimide (a dienophile). The DA reaction requires very little energy to create a DA adduct. At room temperature, furan and maleimide will react to form a DA adduct. Above 60℃, these bonds begin to break apart, and by 100℃, all DA adducts have been cleaved and furan and maleimide are recovered completely. The DA reversible bonds act as crosslinking points for thermo-healing of gels, naturally, gels will have thermoplastic property, and become recyclable and reusable. The prepared self-healable gel is named Switching-Knot (SK) gel.
