Effect of Composition on Viscoelastic Properties and Reprocessing Capability of Polycarbonate Vitrimer

Polycarbonate (PC) is not only one of the engineering plastics widely used in our daily lives due to its versatility but can also be reprocessed due to its thermoplastic properties. However, mechanical properties could not be maintained well after reprocessing. To address this issue, we designed the polycarbonate vitrimer (PCV), which offers the advantage of topological rearrangement through dynamic bond exchange, providing a facile approach to reprocess traditional PC. Our findings highlighted the optimization of the molar ratio between the hydroxyl and carbonyl groups, resulting in excellent reprocessing capability of PCV with the cross-linking density maintained at 96.8% after three reprocessing cycles. Moreover, the reprocessed PCV retained shape memory properties, underscoring its reprocessing performance, even after reprocessing cycles.