Procedures developed for self-repair of polymer matrix composite materials

Self-healing epoxy via epoxy–amine chemistry in dual hollow glass bubbles

“…Variety approaches have been proposed to improve the fragile feature of the epoxy resin, among which the incorporation of self-healing functionality [2][3][4] is very promising because of the toughening effect by the added healing agent carriers as micro-fillers [5] and the re-bonding of the induced micro-cracks timely upon their formation. Self healing in epoxy can be realized by various means in different scales, such as by layup of hollow tubes [6][7][8][9][10][11][12], fabrication of micro-vascular networks [13], microencapsulation [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], thermal additives [22], as well as molecular design by Diles-Alder reaction [23]. Attributed to the ease of manufacture and material integration, the embedment of microcapsules containing healants is the most popular approach among all the methods.…”

“…As epoxy is the most widely employed adhesive matrix in composites, it is also very exciting to incorporate the self-healing functionality into composite materials [6,8,12,[29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

Self-healing polymers and composites

“…Earlier generations of composites with resin filled fibres were reported by Dry et al [120][121][122][123] and Motuku et al 124 to rupture in response to damage and adequately release healing agent. The quality of healing, however, was limited by poor healing agent reactivity and especially large fibre sizes that frequently acted as initiation sites for failure.…”

Routes and mechanisms towards self healing behaviour in engineering materials

“…Fibre reinforced composites based on the hollow fibre concept offer the closest approximation in self healing man-made materials to natural materials with a vascular system. The concept was originally introduced by Dry et al [11][12][13] for concrete using hollow glass fibres filled with a liquid epoxy resin. The concept was later implemented by Trask and Bond [14][15][16] for high performance carbon fibre -epoxy composites.…”