Intrinsic self-healing rubber: A review and perspective of material and reinforcement

Self-healing rubbers have been widely developed by introducing reversible dynamic crosslinked networks into rubber so that it can repair mechanical damage automatically without requiring any manual intervention. The major successful self-healing methods in rubber and underlying mechanisms, such as the covalent adaptable network and supramolecular interaction, were reviewed. Although these methods have been established to develop self-healing rubber, the materials often exhibit relatively poor mechanical properties compared to traditional rubber. In addition, the unique properties of vitrimers as a new class of polymer network is described in the covalent adaptable network subsection. This review also focuses on the effect of filler reinforcement using fillers such as carbon base, silica, chitin and cellulose nanocrystals, as well as metallic and other types, which can participate in reversible crosslink reactions and enhance the mechanical properties. The review also includes an overview of the applications of self-healing rubber.