Self-healing materials for structural applications

Self-healing materials for structural applications offer considerable practical benefits because they would allow to overcome the difficulties connected to damage diagnosis and repair. In this article, a process active at very low temperature for the repair of damaged structural material is shown. The self-repair function is based on the metathesis polymerization of ENB activated by Hoveyda-Grubbs' first generation catalyst. The self-healing epoxy mixture, containing the catalyst powder allows a cure temperature up to 180 degrees C. Dynamic mechanical analysis was used to determine mechanical parameters. The autorepair composite shows a high modulus in a wide temperature range, a glass transition temperature at about 100 degrees C and a self-healing efficiency of about 95%. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:777-784, 2014. (c) 2013 Society of Plastics Engineer