New Class of Polymers Discovered By Accident

When research chemist Jeannette García found a candy-size lump of white material in a flask she had recently used, she had no idea what she had created. The material stuck firmly to the glass, so she used a hammer to break it free. But when she turned the hammer on the material itself, it refused to crack. “When I realized just how high its strength was, I knew I needed to figure out what I’d made,” García says.

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> Thermoset, industrial strength, chemically recyclable, with a version usable as an adhesive.

Extremely interesting, but article gives no clue as to what the chemical formula is. Looking further:

“We report a simple one-pot, low-temperature polycondensation between paraformaldehyde and 4,4ʹ-oxydianiline (ODA) that forms hemiaminal dynamic covalent networks (HDCNs), which can further cyclize at high temperatures, producing poly(hexahydrotriazine)s (PHTs). Both materials are strong thermosetting polymers, and the PHTs exhibited very high Young’s moduli (up to ~14.0 gigapascals and up to 20 gigapascals when reinforced with surface-treated carbon nanotubes), excellent solvent resistance, and resistance to environmental stress cracking. However, both HDCNs and PHTs could be digested at low pH (<2) to recover the bisaniline monomers. By simply using different diamine monomers, the HDCN- and PHT-forming reactions afford extremely versatile materials platforms. For example, when poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) diamine monomers were used to form HDCNs, elastic organogels formed that exhibited self-healing properties.”

4,4’-Oxydianiline is used in the production of a wide variety of polymer resins. The primary use lies in the production of polyimide and poly(ester)imide resins. These resins are used for their temperature-resistant properties

PS, If you know of a company that produces high temperature high strength thermoset plastics in Australia then please let me know.