Simulated and Experimental Investigation of Mechanical Properties for Improving Isotropic Fracture Strength of 3D-Printed Capsules

Three-dimensional (3D) printer-based self-healing capsules, embedded in cement composites, were proposed to heal cracks, as they allow for various structural designs of capsules, repeatable fabrication, and strength analysis. Out of many 3D printing methods, such as fusion deposition modeling (FDM), powder layer fusion, and PolyJet printing, FDM was used to design, analyze, and produce new self-healing capsules, which are widely used due to their high-speed, low-cost, and precise manufacturing. However, the PLA extruded in the FDM had low adhesion energy between stacked layers, which caused a degradation of the performance of the self-healing capsule, because it had different strengths depending on the angle between the stacked layers and the applied load within the concrete structure. Therefore, in this paper, specimens were produced, in accordance with ASTM specifications, using the FDM PLA method, and mechanical properties were obtained through tensile, shear, and compression tests. Additionally, the isotropic fracture characteristics of the four types of capsules were analyzed through finite element method analysis. Subsequently, the 3D-printed capsules were produced, and the fracture strength was analyzed in the x, y and z directions of the applied load through a compression test. As a result, the newly proposed capsule design was verified to have an isotropic fracture strength value of 1400% in all directions compared to conventional spherical thin film capsules