Polycarbonate Polyol Effects on Self-Healing and Mechanical Characteristics

Polyurethanes have been recently discovered to have unique properties including the ability to self-heal. These compounds were created to be non-blocking, that is will not stick to themselves, yet will reattach to a ruptured portion of themselves. Self healing materials can have a tremendous impact on industry, and can also be used in several biomedical applications. Optimizing the self healing and strength of the polyurethanes is thereby an obvious goal. Investigations included discovery of the effects of using different polyols featuring distinct functional groups on the ability to self heal. Resulting mechanical characteristics were controlled by altering the ratios of the building blocks of polyurethanes including; diisocyanates, long-chain polyols, and short chain polyols which were used as polymer chain extenders. Results of several mechanical tests are discussed