Polyurethane adhesives containing Diels–Alder‐based thermoreversible bonds

ABSTRACT A facile two‐step process is developed to obtain polyester urethanes that contain various concentrations of thermoreversible Diels–Alder adduct–based bonds for the development of adhesives. Besides linear systems thermoreversible networks have been included in the study. The reactions are verified using IR‐spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography analysis. The material properties are characterized with solvent exposure tests, dynamic scanning calorimetry, microindentation and rheology and the potential for application as adhesives is tested with an elcometer. Material properties have been found highly tunable for the system, and high adhesive strengths (off‐scale) are found for polyester urethanes that are doped with an intermediate level Diels–Alder functional groups. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44972.