Open Access

ARTICLE

Bio-Based Vitrimer Foam of Bis-Glycidyl Dehydroabietylamine/Epoxidized Soybean Oil with Self-Healing and Shape Memory Properties

Wenxuan Zhang¹, Zhengchuang Zhao¹, Xiaoting Gao¹, Wenning Shen², Ruiqin Deng¹, Zheng Xing¹, Huimin Cheng¹, Xinyan Yan^1,*
1 School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng, China
2 Nanxun Branch of Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, Huzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Xinyan Yan. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Polymer Materials: Multifunctional Design and Sustainable Applications)

Journal of Polymer Materials https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2026.087801

Received 23 June 2026; Accepted 26 August 2026; Published online 07 September 2026

Abstract

High bio-based polymer foams face a critical challenge in balancing mechanical robustness with re-processability and environmental sustainability. In this work, a novel bio-based vitrimer foam was fabricated by integrating rigid rosin-derived Bis-glycidyl dehydroabietylamine epoxy resin (DGDHAA) with flexible epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) within a dynamic covalent network. Sodium bicarbonate served as the foaming agent, N,N-dimethylbenzylamine as the foam stabilizer, triethanolamine as the catalyst, and bis(3-aminopropyl) amine (BAPA) as both the curing agent and reactive diluent. The resulting DGDHAA/ESO-BAPA foams exhibited tunable glass transition temperatures (T_g) ranging from 95.88°C to 98.65°C with increasing BAPA content, along with excellent thermal stability. The optimized formulation achieved a compression resilience of 81.84%, demonstrating outstanding elastic recovery. Moreover, the foams displayed remarkable shape-memory behavior and self-healing capability: after thermal treatment at 120°C for 2 h, the healed specimen could sustain a hanging load of 500 g without fracture. This work demonstrates that the rational combination of rigid rosin-based skeletons and flexible vegetable oil chains within a dynamic covalent network provides an effective strategy for developing high-performance, high bio-based foams with tunable thermal properties, excellent elasticity, self-healing ability, and environmental compatibility.

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Keywords

Bis-glycidyl dehydroabietylamine; epoxidized soybean oil; thermosetting foams; shape memory; self-healing

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