LAUSR

Abstract Conventional crosslinking endows rubbers with excellent mechanical properties, at the same time, turn them to be thermosets with the impossibility of recycling and self-healing. From the perspective of sustainable development of material, it is crucial and meaningful to integrate these charming properties into crosslinked commercial rubbers. In this paper, we prepared a recyclable and healable epoxidized natural rubber (ENR)/citric acid-modified bentonite (CABt) composite. CABt with numerous carboxyls on surface served as cross-linker to covalently crosslink ENR through exchangeable β-hydroxyl ester linkages, as well as efficient reinforcer for ENR. Because of the transesterification reactions of β-hydroxyl ester linkages between CABt and ENR, ENR/CABt composites could alter the network topology at elevated temperature. Meanwhile, the low crosslink degree of network and inherent stickiness of ENR matrix facilitated chain diffusion and transesterification reactions of β-hydroxyl ester linkages, which made ENR/CABt composites recycled and healed. Thus, we envision that our work would open up new avenues to design more crosslinked rubber composites showing recyclable, healable and adaptable abilities.