Issue 3, 2024

Reprocessable and chemically recyclable poly(acylhydrazone–imine) covalent adaptable networks with enhanced mechanical strength and creep resistance

Abstract

Chemical recycling of thermosetting resins represents a sustainable solution to deal with end-of-life polymer products in an energy-saving and easy-to-conduct way. However, it remains a major challenge to fabricate easy-to-achieve chemically recyclable thermosets that possess superior mechanical strength, high fracture toughness, and desirable creep resistance. Herein, a new chemically recyclable poly(acylhydrazone–imine) covalent adaptable network (CAN) is reported by systematically tailoring the intramolecular dynamic interactions of polymer networks. The introduction of acylhydrazone bonds endowed PAIx-CANs with both high mechanical strength and fracture toughness through the formation of synergistic hydrogen-binding interactions. For example, PAI1-CANs exhibit a high Young's modulus of ∼1.58 GPa, a yield strength of ∼83.7 MPa, a tensile strength of ∼73.6 MPa, and also a high fracture toughness of ∼19.7 MJ m−3. Meanwhile, owing to the strong intermolecular hydrogen-binding interactions, the obtained PAIx-CANs also exhibit good creep resistance. Interestingly, the PAIx-CANs can be depolymerized into the starting monomers in high purity under acidic conditions at room temperature. The recovered monomers can be further utilized to fabricate new PAIx-CANs with comparable mechanical properties to the original PAIx-CANs. This work provides a new method for the construction of high-performance chemically recyclable thermosets as next-generation substitutes for conventional thermosetting resins.

Graphical abstract: Reprocessable and chemically recyclable poly(acylhydrazone–imine) covalent adaptable networks with enhanced mechanical strength and creep resistance

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Sep 2023
Accepted
11 Dec 2023
First published
11 Dec 2023

Polym. Chem., 2024,15, 172-180

Reprocessable and chemically recyclable poly(acylhydrazone–imine) covalent adaptable networks with enhanced mechanical strength and creep resistance

C. Bao, J. Liu, Y. Yin, J. Liu and Z. Xin, Polym. Chem., 2024, 15, 172 DOI: 10.1039/D3PY01054F

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