Self-healing, recoverable epoxy elastomers and their composites with desirable thermal conductivities by incorporating BN fillers via in-situ polymerization

Thiol-epoxy elastomers were firstly prepared by thiol-epoxide nucleophilic ring-opening reaction, and the micron boron nitride (mBN) fillers were then introduced into the above system via in-situ polymerization, finally to prepare the highly thermally conductive, self-healing and recoverable mBN/thiol-epoxy elastomer composites by hot-pressing method. Results revealed that the thiol-epoxide reaction was highly efficient and stable. The obtained mBN/thiol-epoxy elastomer composite with 60 wt% mBN fillers presented the optimal thermal conductivity (λ of 1.058 W/mK), excellent self-healing effect & efficiency which is achieved via transesterification reaction (Tensile strength after self-healing could maintain at more than 85% compared to that of original composites), wonderful recoverable performance (Tensile strength after post forming could maintain over 70% compared to that of original composites) and good thermal stability (Theat-resistance index, THRI of 149.9 °C). And the improvement in λ value of the mBN/thiol-epoxy elastomer composites was beneficial to the promotion of the self-healing systems relying on thermal response.