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Science 1 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5560, pp. 1698 - 1702
DOI: 10.1126/science.1065879
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Reports

A Thermally Re-mendable Cross-Linked Polymeric Material

Xiangxu Chen,1 Matheus A. Dam,1 Kanji Ono,2 Ajit Mal,3 Hongbin Shen,4 Steven R. Nutt,4 Kevin Sheran,1 Fred Wudl1*

We have developed a transparent organic polymeric material that can repeatedly mend or "re-mend" itself under mild conditions. The material is a tough solid at room temperature and below with mechanical properties equaling those of commercial epoxy resins. At temperatures above 120°C, approximately 30% (as determined by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) of "intermonomer" linkages disconnect but then reconnect upon cooling, This process is fully reversible and can be used to restore a fractured part of the polymer multiple times, and it does not require additional ingredients such as a catalyst, additional monomer, or special surface treatment of the fractured interface.

1 Exotic Materials Institute and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
3 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
4 Department of Materials Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wudl{at}chem.ucla.edu

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