Wide temperature range damping polyurethane elastomer based on dynamic disulfide bonds

The design and synthesis of high‐performance polyurethane with excellent damping performance and superior mechanical property is a challenge owing to conflicting attributes of damping and mechanical performance. Herein, we innovatively introduced dynamic aromatic disulfide bonds and suitable disulfide catalysts into the system and synthesized a polyurethane elastomer with both admirable damping performance (wide damping temperature range [tan δ ≥ 0.3] of 148°C) and excellent mechanical properties (16.8 MPa, 960%). In our design, (i) dynamic aromatic disulfide exchange reaction above room temperature is able to enhance energy dissipation and segmental mobility, thus promoting the damping performance of polyurethane; (ii) the introduced catalyst can further promote dynamic exchange of disulfide bonds above room temperature, making the chains easier to move and leading to excellent damping property. Moreover, by adjusting the chain extension coefficient, the molecular structure of the chain extender, it's easy to design the microphase separation and rigid structure of the elastomer and the system is endowed with improved mechanical strength. Owing to its outstanding properties, the elastomer has great potential to be used for practical application.