Polameros fortes, ela¡sticos e auto-regenerativos se recuperam rapidamente dos danos
Um polamero que se cura com velocidade e eficácia sem precedentes quando cortado - recuperando quase completamente sua força original em minutos - foi desenvolvido pelos pesquisadores da RIKEN.
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Figura 1: Depois de ser cortado com uma lâmina de barbear (em baixo), o polamero se auto-regenerou em um minuto após as pea§as serem suavemente colocadas juntas (em cima). Apa³s 5 minutos, recuperou 99% de sua tenacidade e 97% de sua resistência a tração. Crédito: RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science
Um polamero que se cura com velocidade e eficácia sem precedentes quando cortado - recuperando quase completamente sua força original em minutos - foi desenvolvido pelos pesquisadores da RIKEN. Foi produzido usando um manãtodo catalatico avana§ado para combinar vários precursores em um aºnico polamero de maneira controlada.
Aumentar a complexidade estrutural dos polímeros oferece uma grande promessa para o desenvolvimento de novos materiais com propriedades novas ou aprimoradas. A santese controlada de polímeros complexos permanece um desafio, no entanto.
Zhaomin Hou do RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science e seus colegas desenvolveram recentemente um manãtodo catalatico controlado para combinar mona´meros de olefinas polares e não polares em um aºnico polamero. “Descobrimos anteriormente que poderaamos sintetizar copolímeros multibloco que exibiam excelente elasticidade e autocura usando a copolimerização de dois componentes de etileno não polar e propilenos substituados por metoxiaril polar por um catalisador de esca¢ndio de meio sanduacheâ€, diz Hou.
As propriedades dos polímeros de dois componentes dependiam fortemente do metoxiarilpropileno utilizado. "Isso levantou a intrigante questãode saber se um 'terpolamero' de três componentes de etileno e dois propilenos funcionalizados com metoxiaril diferentes mostrariam efeitos sinanãrgicos aºnicos nas propriedades meca¢nicas e de autocura", acrescenta Hou.
Agora, Hou, quatro colegas da RIKEN e um colaborador confirmaram que os terpolímeros podem apresentar desempenho meca¢nico e de autocura sem precedentes. Seu polamero elastomanãrico pode ser esticado atéquase 14 vezes seu comprimento original antes de quebrar. E quando cortado em dois, o polamero cicatrizou em cinco minutos para recuperar 99% de sua tenacidade e 97% de sua resistência a tração (Fig. 1).
O desempenho excepcional do material pode ser explicado por sua estrutura molecular única, observa Hou. O polamero consistia em três subseções de componentes em nanoescala, ou "blocos", com propriedades físicas bastante diferentes, mostrou a equipe. Cada metoxiarilpropileno formou sequaªncias alternadas de etileno-metoxiarilpropileno relativamente longas. Um metoxiarilpropileno formou sequaªncias macias e flexaveis, enquanto o outro deu sequaªncias que eram difaceis. Um terceiro tipo de sequaªncia, consistindo de blocos de etileno-etileno relativamente curtos, era de natureza cristalina.
"As excelentes propriedades elastomanãricas e de autocura do polamero se devem a formação dessa rede tridimensional em nanoescala", diz Hou. As seções longas e macias formam uma matriz altamente flexavel, dentro da qual se encontram seções duras e cristalinas que se reagregam rapidamente após o corte do material, autocurando assim qualquer dano.
Este manãtodo de polimerização usando um catalisador de esca¢ndio oferece muitos caminhos para o desenvolvimento de polímeros. "Antecipamos que nossa abordagem permitira¡ que funções adicionais sejam facilmente incorporadas a essa nova classe de polímeros auto-regenerativos ", diz Hou. "E esperamos que nosso mecanismo de autocura guie o projeto e a criação de vários novos polímeros de autocura por meio do controle microestrutural".