Self‐Healing Ability of Poly (PEGMA‐5‐UPy) Evaluated by Thermomechanical Analysis

The synthesis and characterization of polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) based copolymers incorporating three different percentages (2.5 wt%, 5.0 wt%, and 7.8 wt%) of urea-N-2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-methylpyrimidine-N’-(hexametylen-n-carboxyethyl methacrylate) (HEMA-UPy) are reported. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared spectroscopy (IR) confirm the synthesis procedure. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) are employed to evaluate the thermal properties of the samples. DSC measurements evidence a slight increase in glass transition temperature (Tg), a consistent increase in crystallization and melting temperatures (Tc and Tm), and a reduction in the crystallization degree (Xc) with increasing the amount of HEMA-UPy moiety. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is carried out at different values of temperature and oscillation frequency. It highlights the ability of the healed copolymer to recover the pristine values of storage modulus. The healing efficiency depends on the temperature history of the sample. For the sample healed at room temperature, the value of healing efficiency is 64%. DMA tests performed at higher temperatures, after some permanence at room temperature, evidence higher values in the healing efficiency. This demonstrates that the higher value of the temperature employed during DMA tests determines greater mobility of the chains causing an enhancement in the healing efficiency.