Polymeric systems capable of spontaneous self-healing after damage have an improved lifetime and environmental impact, but they are often soft, low-modulus materials.  Recently, some microphase-separated systems have been proposed that incorporate more favorable mechanical properties and self-healing capabilities into the same material; a thermoplastic elastomer morphology with rigid glassy domains embedded in a soft matrix endows a material with mechanical stiffness and the ability to heal via hydrogen bonding.  Here we report the fabrication of functionalized poly(ether sulfone) engineering thermoplastics which bear grafted hydrogen-bonding sidechains. The sidechain grafting method that we have developed consists of an initial �grafting from� polymerization of a hydroxyl-terminated meth/acrylate via ARGET ATRP from chloromethylated PSF, followed by postfunctionalization via DCC coupling with a protected amide.  This novel, modular method allows us to tune with precision the Tg of the soft hydrogen-bonding matrix, a key to the material's overall performance.Very little is known about the effect that mechanical properties of the glassy domain have on the bulk properties of a microphase-separated self-healing polymer.  The presented work will address this question through a systematic analysis of mechanical properties and self-healing data with consideration to the structure (identity, molecular weight, size) of the glassy phase.  We will also present data regarding the role of the molecular weight and chain density of the hydrogen-bonding sidechains that make up the soft phase.  We expect this research to expand the scope of mechanically robust self-healing materials, and to provide valuable structure-property information about self-healing TPE systems.

Functionalization of an engineering thermoplastic for self-healing applications

248th National Meeting (2014)

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