The Diels–Alder (DA) reaction is particularly desirable for the preparation of heat-stimuli self-healing polymeric materials because of its thermal reversibility, high yield, and minimal side reactions. Some attempts were conducted to synthesize polyether–maleimide-based crosslinked self-healing polyurethane with DA bonds (C-PEMIPU–DA) through the reactions of the prepolymer (polymeric MDI/PBA-1000) functionalized by furfuryl amine and polyether–maleimide without benzene in this study. The structures of intermediates and C-PEMIPU–DA were first confirmed by ¹H-NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. Next, the thermal reversibility and the self-healing performance of C-PEMIPU–DA were studied by ¹H-NMR, polarizing optical microscopy, tensile testing, and a sol–gel process. The results show that C-PEMIPU–DA exhibited interesting properties of thermal reversibility and self-healing. The polymers could be applied to self-healing materials or recyclable materials in the fields of the repair of composite structures and aging parts because of their thermosetting properties at room temperature and thermoplasticity at higher temperatures. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41944.

Inspired by many strong, toughness, and stiffness materials in nature, we first present bio-inspired structure hybrid films fabricated by layer-by-layer assembly technique based on low-surface-energy graphite micro-sheets and styrenic block copolymers. Compared with pure polymer films, the mechanical properties of the hybrid films have been greatly modified in failure stress, elastic modulus, and failure energy due to the rigid bio-inspired structure. After graphite micro-sheets surface modified by dopamine, a better enhancement in mechanical properties was achieved with the assistance of dopamine surface modification in the almost same content of inorganic component. The layer-by-layer assembly method was improved by introducing the wet-coating techniques that has been widely applied in industry. This improved method is more easily to fabricate large-area hybrid films without destroying the bio-inspired structure of the hybrid films. This improved method and bio-inspired structure were first applied to reinforce elastomer in this work, while this bio-inspired structure has shown great success when applied in the area of plastic. POLYM. COMPOS. 34:1261–1268, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Poly(urethane-co-vinyl imidazole) (PUVI)/graphene nanocomposites were facilely prepared by a kind of noncovalent way. Herein, the 1-vinylimidazole acted as dispersion agent as well as monomer, graphene was uniformly dispersed in the copolymer matrix without obviously agglomeration. A significant enhancement of mechanical and thermal properties of the PUVI/graphene nanocomposites were obtained at low graphene loading; specifically, a 147% improvement of tensile strength, a nearly 10 times increase of elastic modulus and a 12°C enhancement of thermal decomposition temperature were achieved at a graphene loading of 1.5 wt%. Moreover, the volume resistivity of the PUVI/graphene nanocomposites decreased by an order of magnitude after adding 0.5 wt% graphene, demonstrating an obvious change in the electrical property of the nanocomposites prepared. POLYM. COMPOS. 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers

Polystyrene/Styrene-Ethylene-Propylene-Styrene/Vinyl Ester Resin (PS/SEPS/VER) blends used as matrix of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber-reinforced composites, which included both physical crosslinking points of thermoplastic resin SEPS and chemical crosslinking network of thermosetting resin PS/VER, were prepared by solution blending and hot-molding. Morphology and mechanical properties of the PS/SEPS/VER composites were investigated in this work. The microstructure of PS/SEPS/VER composites observed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was correlated with mechanical properties. It is worth noting that, stiffness increased sharply with the addition of VER within a certain range. Impact properties verified the structure that the physical crosslinking points of SEPS were immersed in the chemical crosslinking network of PS/VER. Dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that, incorporation of VER changed the storage modulus and loss tangent. In brief, addition of VER had improved mechanical properties, thermal stability, and fluidity of the composites during processing, indicating a successful result for preparing resin matrix material with outstanding comprehensive performances. Analog map was presented to facilitate better understanding of the special structure of PS/SEPS/VER. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011

High refractive index homogeneous hybrid materials were successfully prepared. The polymer matrix was the copolymer of methyl methacrylate, sulfur-containing monomer 2,2′-mercaptoethylsulfide dimethacrylate (MESDMA), and nanotitania was prepared by in situ solgel process of titanium n-butoxide. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) study suggested that the hybrid was homogeneous without inorganic agglomerate, and the inorganic particles were 4–7 nm. The refractive index was ∼ 1.75 when the inorganic content of the hybrid film reached to 70 wt %, and the transmittance maintained up to 85%. The sulfur-containing monomer was used to improve the refractive index, also, it was a crosslinking reagent, which improved the film-forming ability of the hybrid. After copolymerized with MESDMA, the film-forming ability of the hybrid was better than the one without MESDMA. Even if the inorganic content exceeded 75 wt %, the films kept integrity. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009

The morphology and mechanical properties of a styrene–ethylene/butylene–styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS) incorporated with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) particles were investigated. The impact strength and tensile strength of the SEBS matrix obviously increased after the incorporation of the HDPE particles. The microstructure of the SEBS/HDPE blends was observed with scanning electron microscopy and polar optical microscopy, which illustrated that the SEBS/HDPE blends were phase-separation systems. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis was also employed to characterize the interaction between SEBS and HDPE. The relationship between the morphology and mechanical properties of the SEBS/HDPE blends was discussed, and the toughening mechanism of rigid organic particles was employed to explain the improvement in the mechanical properties of the SEBS/HDPE blends. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008