Self-healable fiber-reinforced vitrimer composites: overview and future prospects
Harsh Sharma, Sravendra Rana, Poonam Singh, Mikihiro Hayashi, Wolfgang H. Binder, Elisabeth Rossegger, Ajay Kumar, Sandra Schlögl
Abstract
To achieve sustainable development goals, approaches towards the preparation of recyclable and healable polymeric materials is highly attractive. Self-healing polymers and thermosets based on bond-exchangeable dynamic covalent bonds, so called "vitrimers" could be a great effort in this direction. In order to match the industrial importance, enhancement of mechanical strength without sacrificing the bond exchange capability is a challenging issue, however, such concerns can be overcome through the developments of fiber-reinforced vitrimer composites. This article covers the outstanding features of fiber-reinforced vitrimer composites, including their reprocessing, recycling and self-healing properties, together with practical applications and future perspectives of this unique class of materials.