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Related Concept Videos

Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview01:10

Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview

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Chain-growth or addition polymerization is successive addition reactions of monomers with a polymer chain. In radical chain-growth polymerization, the reaction proceeds via a free-radical intermediate. The free radical is formed from radical initiators, which spontaneously generate free radicals by homolytic fission. Organic peroxides (such as dibenzoyl peroxide, as shown in Figure 1) or azo compounds are popular radical initiators. A low concentration ratio of radical initiator to monomer is...
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Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Chain Branching01:17

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The skeletal structure of polymers synthesized via radical polymerization is always branched. For example, the polymerization of ethylene by radical polymerization results in a low-density grade of polyethylene with a heavily branched skeletal structure. Here, the radical site abstracts hydrogen from the growing chain, and the radical site shifts from the end (a primary carbon center) to anywhere within the growing chain (a secondary carbon center). Consequently, the part of the chain from the...
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Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism01:04

Anionic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism

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The mechanism for anionic chain-growth polymerization involves initiation, propagation, and termination steps. In the initiation step, a nucleophilic anion, such as butyl lithium, initiates the polymerization process by attacking the π bond of the vinylic monomer. As a result, a carbanion, stabilized by the electron‐withdrawing group, is generated. The resulting carbanion acts as a Michael donor in the propagation step and attacks the second vinylic monomer, which acts as a Michael...
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Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview01:17

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Ziegler–Natta polymerization is another form of addition or chain‐growth polymerization used for synthesizing linear polymers over branched polymers. The catalyst used for polymerization is the Ziegler–Natta catalyst, named after Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta, who developed it in 1953. This catalyst is an organometallic complex of titanium tetrachloride and triethyl aluminum, with the active form of the catalyst being an alkyl titanium compound. Using the Ziegler–Natta...
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Radical Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism01:09

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The radical chain-growth polymerization mechanism consists of three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination of polymerization. The polymerization initiates when a free radical generated from the radical initiator adds to the unsaturated bond in the monomer. The unpaired electron of the free radical and one π electron in the unsaturated bond creates a σ bond between the free radical and the monomer. As a result, the other π electron in the unsaturated bond converts this...
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Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism00:57

Cationic Chain-Growth Polymerization: Mechanism

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The cationic polymerization mechanism consists of three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination. In the initiation step of the polymerization process, the π bond of a monomer gets protonated by the Lewis acid catalyst, which is formed from boron trifluoride and water. The protonation of the π bond generates a carbocation stabilized by the electron‐donating group. In the propagation step, the π bond of the second monomer acts as a nucleophile and attacks the...
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Synthesis of Programmable Main-chain Liquid-crystalline Elastomers Using a Two-stage Thiol-acrylate Reaction
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Toughening Self-Healing Elastomers with Chain Mobility.

Matthew Wei Ming Tan1,2, Patrick Michael Thornton3, Gurunathan Thangavel1

  • 1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.

Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
|June 13, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Tuning polymer chain mobility in soft elastomers enhances fracture toughness and self-healing. This improves the durability and operational lifespan of soft devices by enabling better damage recovery.

Keywords:
chain mobilityelastomersfracture toughnesshydrogen bondingself‐healing

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Polymer Chemistry

Background:

  • Soft elastomers are vital for modern devices, but their operational lifetimes are limited by susceptibility to damage.
  • Enhancing fracture toughness and self-healing capabilities is critical for improving the durability and longevity of these materials.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate methods for enhancing fracture toughness and self-healing in carboxylated-functionalized polyurethane.
  • To understand the role of polymer chain mobility in achieving these improved material properties.

Main Methods:

  • Incorporation of plasticizers and thermal treatment to tune polymer chain mobilities.
  • Fracture toughness testing, including double cantilever beam tests, to evaluate material performance.
  • Varying temperatures (80-120°C) and plasticizer concentrations (optimal at 3 wt.%) to assess property enhancements.

Main Results:

  • Increasing temperature from 80 to 120°C significantly boosted the recovered work of fracture (2.86 to 123.7 MJ m⁻³).
  • Optimal plasticizer (3 wt.%) and temperature (40°C) conditions improved fracture toughness from 16.3 to 19.9 and 25.6 kJ m⁻², respectively.
  • Carboxyl hydrogen bonds and chain mobility were identified as key mechanisms for energy dissipation and stress redistribution, leading to crack blunting.

Conclusions:

  • Tuning polymer chain mobility is an effective strategy to simultaneously enhance fracture toughness and self-healing in soft elastomers.
  • These improvements contribute to the prevention of damage and facilitate better recovery, extending the functional lifetime of soft devices.
  • Understanding fracture mechanics at healed interfaces is crucial for predicting material behavior and failure prevention in self-healing elastomers.