Optimal storage moduli for the thermal healing of polystyrene ionomers.

In this work, we studied the effects of storage moduli on thermal healing of poly(styrene‐co‐methacrylate) and poly(styrene‐co‐itaconate) ionomers. It was found that as the ion content and neutralization degree of the ionomers increased, the healing efficiencies decreased. This was due to the fact that the ionic aggregates, acting as physical cross‐links, and the clustered regions of the ionomers, reducing polymer chain mobility, interrupted the relaxation of the polymer chains near the damaged site, slowing the recovery. The most important finding in this work was that, to heal the ionomer without severe sample deformation, the optimal healing temperature should be the temperature where the storage modulus of the ionomer was similar to 106.6 Pa. Obviously, the healing rate and healing efficiency were mainly influenced by the healing temperature, related directly to the storage modulus of the polymer, and the maximum healing efficiency was strongly affected by healing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]