Hierarchical Hydrogen Bond-Metal Coordination for High-Strength, High-Dissipation Elastomers over a Broad Temperature...

Developing high-performance elastomers that simultaneously exhibit high strength, excellent elasticity, broad temperature-range damping, and multifunctionality remains a significant challenge in materials science. In this study, a supramolecular polyurethane elastomer (PUTAZn_x) is successfully synthesized by constructing a hierarchical hydrogen-bonding network via tartaric acid (TA) chain extension and incorporating dynamic zinc ion coordination crosslinking. The hierarchical hydrogen bonds display an ordered, temperature-dependent dissociation behavior and maintain a dynamic balance between dissociation and reformation, leading to a broad damping peak in the Damping factor (tan δ) profile. Coordination bonds between carboxyl groups and Zn²⁺ significantly enhance intermolecular interactions, enabling the material to exhibit a high tensile strength of 27.27 MPa and an exceptional elongation at break of 1513%. Meanwhile, the introduction of Zn²⁺ increases the free volume for molecular motion, further enhancing the damping performance. This results in an ultra-broad effective damping temperature range (tan δ ≥ 0.3) from 15.9 °C to 158.4 °C, spanning 142.5 °C, thereby facilitating efficient energy dissipation under dynamic loading even in extreme conditions.