Volume 142, Issue 32 e57281
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Mechanically Robust and Highly Transparent Polyurethane Elastomer With Excellent Adhesion Enabled by Hierarchical Hydrogen Bonds

Chenrui Zhang

Chenrui Zhang

College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Contribution: Data curation (lead), ​Investigation (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Qingchuang Lu

Qingchuang Lu

College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Contribution: Data curation (equal), ​Investigation (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Meng Song

Meng Song

School of Materials Electronics and Energy Storage, Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Funding acquisition (lead), Software (lead)

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Zhenyang Luo

Zhenyang Luo

College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Institute of Polymer Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Supervision (lead)

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Lei Duan

Corresponding Author

Lei Duan

School of Chemical Engineering and Materials, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, China

Correspondence:

Lei Duan ([email protected])

Yanlong Luo ([email protected])

Contribution: Funding acquisition (equal), Validation (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal)

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Yanlong Luo

Corresponding Author

Yanlong Luo

College of Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Institute of Polymer Materials, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

Correspondence:

Lei Duan ([email protected])

Yanlong Luo ([email protected])

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Supervision (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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First published: 02 May 2025

Funding: This work was supported by Training Program for Young Backbone Teachers in Henan Colleges and Universities (2021GGJS110); Key Projects of Science and Technology of Henan Province (242102230170); Changzhou Science and Technology Program (CJ20240069); Open Foundation of National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Mineral Salt Deep Utilization of Huaiyin Institute of Technology (SF202308).

ABSTRACT

Many high-strength polyurethane materials have been developed in the past, but combining other functionalities such as high transparency, adhesion, and self-healing properties is still a great challenge. We prepare a mechanically robust polyurethane elastomer with high transparency and self-healability. The relationship between its structure and properties is elaborated. Acylsemicarbazide (ASCZ) and urethane groups are introduced into the hard segments of the polyurethane elastomer, and by modulating the spacer groups between the ASCZ and urethane groups, the fine modulation for the hydrogen bonding density and the hard domain size is realized. By the exquisite regulation of molecular structure, the HMDI-SPH elastomer with sebacic dihydrazide (SPH) as the chain extender, polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG) as the soft segments, and methylene-bis(4-cyclohexyl isocyanate) (HMDI) as the isocyanate can achieve a high elasticity due to the rich and hierarchical hydrogen bonds. Such hydrogen bonds impede the crystallization of PTMEG and facilitate the formation of homogeneously distributed hard-phase microdomains. The HMDI-SPH elastomer exhibits good mechanical robustness (tensile strength of 45.7 MPa, toughness of ~140.8 MJ m−3), transparency (transmittance > 95%), and self-healing (self-healing efficiency of 86.6%). Meanwhile, HMDI-SPH has good adhesive strength on a variety of substrates such as walnut (~10.81 MPa) and steel (~14.60 MPa).

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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