Mechanical enhancement of amine-functionalized TiO2 reinforced polyimine composites

Polyimine vitrimers are known for their malleability, which endows these materials with properties such as self-healing, recycling, and reshaping. To enhance the mechanical properties of the polyimine vitrimers, composites were fabricated by incorporating amine-functionalized TiO 2 microspheres (amTiO 2 MS) into polyimine matrix. The pure polyimine matrix and polyimine composites hybridized with TiO 2 microspheres (TiO 2 MS) without surface modification were also obtained and examined as the controls in characterization. X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to demonstrate the presence and distribution of amTiO 2 MS and TiO 2 MS in the polyimine matrices. The investigation of mechanical properties of the amTiO 2 MS enhanced polyimine composites and control samples indicated that incorporation of amTiO 2 MS and TiO 2 MS exhibited different characteristic distribution, which strongly affected the performance of the composites. The optimal filling concentration of amTiO 2 MS was found to be 3%, with which the microspheres were uniformly distributed in the polyimine matrix. The self-healing behavior of the polyimine-amTiO 2 - X was also studied. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 46446.