Mechanical
strength and toughness are usually mutually exclusive, but they can
both appear in natural rubber (NR). Previous studies ascribe such
excellent properties to highly cis stereoregularity of NR. To our
surprise, after the removal of non-rubber components (NRC) by centrifugation,
the strength and toughness of NR decrease dramatically. It is still
a challenge for us to make out for the problem of how NRC affect the
properties of NR. Our group ascribes the superior mechanical robustness
of NR to NRC. To further verify such a viewpoint, we add phospholipids
(phosphatidylcholines) into NR without NRC. Phosphatidylcholines construct
a sacrificial network, which ruptures preferentially upon deformation
to dissipate energy. Moreover, some of phosphatidylcholines participate
in the vulcanization reaction, which further improves the mechanical
strength and energy dissipation. As a result, the mechanical strength
and toughness of samples are as high as 21.1 MPa and 49.6 kJ/m2, respectively, which have reached the same level as that
of NR. Therefore, this work not only imitates the excellent mechanical
robustness of NR but also further provides a rational design for elastomers
with excellent mechanical robustness.
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