Preparation and Properties of Self-Healing Polyurethane Elastomer Derived from Tung-Oil-Based Polyphenol.

A tung-oil-based polyphenol (ATOM), containing the phenolic hydroxyl group, was synthesized from tung oil and 4-maleimidophenol by the Diels-Alder addition reaction. Then self-healing thermosetting polyurethanes were prepared from ATOM and the polyurethane prepolymer. The chemical structure and cross-link network were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and swelling tests. The products partially dissolved in trichlorobenzene when the temperature rose to 110 °C. Temperature-variable FTIR confirmed that the phenolic urethane starts to partially dissolve at 100 °C, which can be explained by the experimental phenomenon in swelling tests. Tensile property analysis showed that the broken and healed thermosets maintained about 46-64% of their original tensile strengths and 81-88% of their original elongations at break, respectively.