Summary
Hydrogels or plastics formed by using covalent bond, once ruptured or damaged, cannot be repaired to their original state without melting them in general. Moreover, conventional self-healing materials formed by using non-covalent bond don’t have enough property for their insufficient combination strength although they can be recombined reversibly. Inventors have formed new self-healing polymers by incorporating host and guest molecules into the same polymer main chain and synthesizing them with using an unconventional technique. They can be self-healed any number of times by using host-guest interaction, without any stimulation at room temperature, when rupture surfaces are adhered to one another.
Advantages
1. Non-covalent cross-links are unbound when ruptured The polymers of this technology are cross-linked non-covalently by using host-guest interaction (ex. Cyclodextrin and Alkyl group). When they are ruptured, mainly these cross-links are unbound. So, when the rupture surfaces are adhered to one another, they are self-healed up to their original strength.
2. Selective self-healing between rupture surfaces Rupture surfaces are not adhered to non-rupture surfaces. Rupture surfaces and damage surfaces are self-healed selectively without unnecessary adhesions.
Potential applications
# Painting material, coating film # Cushion material # Plastic container # Vascular embolic material
Patent Status
WO2012/036069, JP No.5615373, WO2013/162019
Inventors
Prof. Akira Harada (Graduate School of Science, Osaka University) et al.
Product No: TP0250