Accelerating dynamic exchange and self-healing using mechanical forces in crosslinked polymers

• DOI: 10.1039/c9mh01938c
• Publication Date: 2020-03-31T12:29:37Z
• Authors: Nethmi De Alwis W...; Ballal Ahammed; Madison T. Dolan; Qinghua Fang; Jian Wu; Jessica L. Sparks; Mehdi B. Zanjani; Dominik Konkolewicz; Zhijiang Ye
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Surprisingly, a few seconds–minutes of compression at room temperature can increase the rate of dynamic bond exchange as measured by better self-healing, even for thermoresponsive dynamic bonds which do not exchange under ambient conditions.