Tough rosin-based reversibly crosslinked elastomers with anticorrosion and adhesion properties

Conventional polymer materials cannot repair hidden cracks that appear during use by themselves, which affects service life and reliability. The reversibility of dynamic covalent bonds provides an effective approach for the sustainable development of materials. In this study, we introduced rosin, a renewable resource, and dimethylglyoxime with an oxime bond into polyurethane elastomers to prepare tough, self-healing rosin-based crosslinked elastomers. Benefiting from their high crosslinking density, the prepared elastomers exhibit excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength up to 13.6 ± 0.5 MPa and toughness up to 21.3 ± 0.6 MJ m–3) and solvent resistance. Based on the dynamic reversibility of oxime–carbamate bonds, the elastomers exhibit excellent self-healing properties (97.2 ± 1.1 % self-healing efficiency for 3 h at 80 °C). Furthermore, the elastomers exhibit good adhesion and corrosion resistance. Notably, the addition of rosin improves the elastomers' hydrophobicity and heat resistance in addition to their mechanical properties. These findings suggest that the prepared self-healing rosin-based elastomers have promising applications in self-healing anticorrosive coatings and adhesives.