Self healing thermoset composites
I ran mechanical testing and investigated self healing thermoset polymers. This resulted in a publication in the Polymer journal, with Henry Sodano and Lisha Zhang as co-authors.
Overview
This work introduces a new class of intrinsically self-mendable thermoset polymers based on an isocyanurate-oxazolidone (ISOX) network — the first demonstration of an isocyanurate ring as a repairing moiety. When a crack forms, mechanical stress causes cycloreversion of the isocyanurate rings, generating reactive free isocyanates at the fracture surface. Thermal annealing then re-trimerizes these isocyanates, reforming the network and recovering fracture toughness.
The polymers achieve a glass transition temperature of 270 °C and onset decomposition temperature of 365 °C — the highest reported thermal stability for an intrinsically healable thermoset — while retaining mechanical properties (Young’s modulus ~3 GPa, tensile strength 65 MPa at 125 °C) comparable to engineering-grade epoxies. First-cycle mending efficiency reached ~51% under macroscopic crack conditions.
My contribution focused on mechanical testing and characterization to quantify the healing performance across different TDI/DGEBF formulations. Published in Polymer (2017), with Lisha Zhang and Henry Sodano as co-authors.