Stress-Dependent Multicolor Mechanochromism in Epoxy Thermosets Based on Rhodamine and Diaminodiphenylmethane Mechanophores

Mechanochromic polymers exhibit potential applications in damage reporting and stress sensing. Despite the rapid progress achieved in recent years, mechanochromic structural polymers, such as epoxy thermosets, remain difficult to develop, let alone structural materials that can distinguish different levels of stress by a visual color change. This work presents a new class of multicolor mechanochromic epoxy thermosets that can discriminate between low and high compressive stresses via the incorporation of two distinct mechanophores. Amino-functionalized rhodamine (Rh) moieties serve as efficient curing agents and ratiometric stress sensors for epoxy thermosets. The Rh mechanophore in the epoxy network can be activated either by scratch or uniaxial compression, showing a reversible color change and a red fluorescence turn-on response. A stress-dependent multicolor response under uniaxial compression and hydrostatic pressure is achieved by the combination of Rh mechanophores with a commercial epoxy resin containing a 4,4′-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) framework. The Rh zwitterion formed at a low compressive stress turns the sample red, while a high compressive stress turns the sample green via the formation of the quinoidal methine form of DDM. Differential activation under varying degrees of compressive stress is demonstrated by UV–vis spectroscopy. The facile preparation and ability to recognize stress intensity by the naked eye make this strategy suitable for practical applications.