The self-healing investigations on fiber-reinforced polymer composites through a novel compartmented microcapillary approach

This paper presents the experimental self-healing investigations on fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites using a novel in-situ healing approach. During the preparation of polymer composites, the monomer Dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) was embedded as the healing agent. The compartment hollow glass microcapillaries were used to serve the localized distribution of the healing agent. To determine the viability of the proposed microcapillary approach, several flexural tests were conducted to initiate the damage and subsequent realization of self-repair activity. The healing was initiated through the polymerization of DCPD in the presence of Grubb's catalyst (first and second generation). Once healed, the specimens were tested cyclically to evaluate the recovery of flexural strength. A post-failure healing efficiency as high as 72% has been observed. SEM and XRD investigations have been conducted for the microstructural investigations. These investigations support the potential applications of the proposed concept of embedding the bulk with the microcapillaries.