Pseudopolyrotaxane Slide‐Ring Based Waterborne Polyurethane: High Toughness, Self‐Healing, and Coating Application

ABSTRACT Water‐based polyurethanes offer environmental advantages over traditional polyurethanes but suffer from drawbacks such as poor mechanical properties and water resistance. Adjusting the ratio of raw materials to alter the proportion of hard and soft segments in the molecular chain provides only a very limited means of improving their performance. This study prepared a series of water‐based polyurethanes using pseudopolycyclohexane (PPR) powder, poly(tetrahydrofuran) ether diol, and isophorone diisocyanate as primary raw materials. The morphology and structure of the water‐based polyurethanes were analyzed via particle size testing and infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, the thermodynamic properties, mechanical properties, self‐healing performance, and contact angle of the water‐based polyurethane elastomers were evaluated. Results indicate that compared to the unmodified elastomer, adding 1 wt% PPR improved the tensile strength from 36.67 to 38 MPa, increased the elongation at break from 631.27% to 822.88%, toughness reached 120.04 MJ/m 3 , contact angle increased from 90° to 105°, and self‐healing efficiency reached 80%. These results demonstrate that water‐based polyurethane copolymer modification of PPR can produce highly tough self‐healing materials. Furthermore, the synthesized water‐based polyurethane emulsion exhibits excellent comprehensive properties as a coating material, showing broad application prospects in multiple fields.