Design of microcapsule system used for self-healing cementitious material

For a microcapsule based self-healing system in the cementitious material, a fundamental issue is to find and facilitate a suitable microcapsule system, concerning either the material selection or design and manufacture process. In this study, urea formaldehyde resin is used for the shell of microcapsule, and bisphenol – an epoxy resin E-51 diluted by n-butyl glycidy ether (BGE) is adopted as the heal-agent inside the microcapsule. The production process mainly includes pre-polymerization preparation, emulsification, acidification and curing stage. The fundamental reaction mechanisms with respect to the synthesis process and the properties of the obtained microcapsule are discussed in this paper. Meanwhile, the healing mechanism by means of catalyst MC120D is further explored. Results show that the microcapsule obtained with the adopted production process can be used for the self-healing system in the cementitious materials.Structural EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience