Synthesis and properties of UV-curable self-healing oligomer

A novel UV-curable self-healing oligomer was designed on the basis of a quadrupolar hydrogen bond system. The oligomer is formed by reacting a mixture of a hydrogen bonding group and a photosensitive monomer with three-arm polyols. The structure was identified using H-1 NMR and the real-time FTIR was used to observe the conversion of double bonds. The self-healing property was monitored by optical microscopy and atomic force microscope, and the gloss induced by damaging and healing processes was tested using a glossmeter. Furthermore, a thermogravimetric analyzer was used to test the thermostability. The healing performance was considerably improved with the increasing content of the ureido-pyrimidone dimer. The results revealed that the reversibility of the quadrupolar hydrogen bond system is beneficial to the healing capacity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.