Carbon fiber reinforced degradable poly(hexahydrotriazine) composites with excellent self-healing and improved wear resistance

Inspired by the living tissues self-healing strategy, polyethylene wax (PEW) as a healing agent was embedded into poly(hexahydrotriazine)s (PHT) cross-linked networks by a simple in-suit polymerization reaction to obtain a self-healing carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite (CFRPs). The resultant CFRPs exhibited outstanding wear resistance with a minimum friction coefficient of 0.10 and acquired a high tensile strength of 287 MPa. In addition, the wear scar could readily heal after heating at over 100 °C for 60 s, and the friction coefficient stabilized around 0.12 after three-cycle tribological tests, which was owing to the formation of the protective layer by the low-melting-point PEW thermal migration to the wear track. This work opens up a new opportunity for fabricating self-healing CFRPs with durability and recyclability.