{"title":"Creep and recovery of vitrimers under thermo-chemo-mechanical coupling effects","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.polymer.2024.127567","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Reprocessable, repairable, and recyclable (“3R”) vitrimers have experienced rapid development over the past decade and demonstrate significant potential for diverse applications. The creep performance of vitrimers is crucial for their dimensional stability under load-bearing conditions at relatively low temperatures and serves as a key metric for evaluating their reprocessability at high temperatures. However, the impact of dynamic covalent polymer networks (DCPNs) on vitrimer mechanics, particularly creep properties, remains debated. Systematic experimental studies on the creep of vitrimers across a wide temperature range are lacking. We use the classic epoxy vitrimer as a model system to investigate the impact of DCPNs on vitrimer mechanics, especially focusing on the creep and recovery behavior across a wide temperature range, spanning from room temperature to the glass transition temperature (T<sub>g</sub>) and further to the topology freezing transition temperature (T<sub>v</sub>). We systematically examined the effects of temperature, stress, and catalysts on vitrimer creep, revealing the influence of DCPNs. Our findings demonstrate significant thermo-chemo-mechanical coupling effects in the creep mechanics of vitrimers, a facet not comprehensively acknowledged in existing studies. In addition, at temperatures below T<sub>g</sub>, vitrimers exhibit superior creep resistance compared to pure epoxy resin due to metal coordination, ensuring excellent dimensional stability under load-bearing conditions. Conversely, at high temperatures, active bond exchange reactions in vitrimers accelerate creep and result in greater residual deformation, highlighting exceptional reprocessability. This study provides new insights into the materials and mechanics of vitrimers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":405,"journal":{"name":"Polymer","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Polymer","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032386124009030","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"POLYMER SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Reprocessable, repairable, and recyclable (“3R”) vitrimers have experienced rapid development over the past decade and demonstrate significant potential for diverse applications. The creep performance of vitrimers is crucial for their dimensional stability under load-bearing conditions at relatively low temperatures and serves as a key metric for evaluating their reprocessability at high temperatures. However, the impact of dynamic covalent polymer networks (DCPNs) on vitrimer mechanics, particularly creep properties, remains debated. Systematic experimental studies on the creep of vitrimers across a wide temperature range are lacking. We use the classic epoxy vitrimer as a model system to investigate the impact of DCPNs on vitrimer mechanics, especially focusing on the creep and recovery behavior across a wide temperature range, spanning from room temperature to the glass transition temperature (Tg) and further to the topology freezing transition temperature (Tv). We systematically examined the effects of temperature, stress, and catalysts on vitrimer creep, revealing the influence of DCPNs. Our findings demonstrate significant thermo-chemo-mechanical coupling effects in the creep mechanics of vitrimers, a facet not comprehensively acknowledged in existing studies. In addition, at temperatures below Tg, vitrimers exhibit superior creep resistance compared to pure epoxy resin due to metal coordination, ensuring excellent dimensional stability under load-bearing conditions. Conversely, at high temperatures, active bond exchange reactions in vitrimers accelerate creep and result in greater residual deformation, highlighting exceptional reprocessability. This study provides new insights into the materials and mechanics of vitrimers.
期刊介绍:
Polymer is an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing innovative and significant advances in Polymer Physics, Chemistry and Technology. We welcome submissions on polymer hybrids, nanocomposites, characterisation and self-assembly. Polymer also publishes work on the technological application of polymers in energy and optoelectronics.
The main scope is covered but not limited to the following core areas:
Polymer Materials
Nanocomposites and hybrid nanomaterials
Polymer blends, films, fibres, networks and porous materials
Physical Characterization
Characterisation, modelling and simulation* of molecular and materials properties in bulk, solution, and thin films
Polymer Engineering
Advanced multiscale processing methods
Polymer Synthesis, Modification and Self-assembly
Including designer polymer architectures, mechanisms and kinetics, and supramolecular polymerization
Technological Applications
Polymers for energy generation and storage
Polymer membranes for separation technology
Polymers for opto- and microelectronics.