Self-healing composites: A review

Figures & data

Figure 1. Prototype of capsule-based self-healing composite (White et al., 2001).

Table 1. Summary of healing performance of capsule-based self-healing materials

Mechanism	Healing efficiency^1	Healing time	Healing cycle	Healing Condition	Host material	References
DCPD + Grubbs	75–100%	10–48 h	1	Room Temperature (RT)	Epoxy	Brown, White, and Sottos (2006), Brown et al. (2002), Rule, Sottos, and White (2007), White et al. (2001)
DCPD + Grubbs	~30%	24 h	1	RT	Epoxy vinyl ester	Wilson, Moore, White, Sottos, and Andersson (2008)
DCPD + Grubbs	67–100% (depending on the extent of damage)	48 h	1	RT	Epoxy + CFRC	Kessler et al. (2003), Moll, White, and Sottos, (2010), Patel, Sottos, Wetzel, and White (2010)
DCPD + WCl6	20–64.9%	24 h	1	22–50°C	Epoxy	Kamphaus et al. (2008), Li et al. (2012)
ENB + Grubbs	45 and 80%	48 h	1	RT and 80°C	Epoxy	Lee et al. (2004)
ENB/DCPD + Grubbs	85%	48 h	1	RT	Epoxy	Liu et al. (2006)
ENB + Hoveyda Grubbs	95%	2 h	1	170°C	Epoxy	Raimondo and Guadagno (2013)
HOPDMS and PDES	24%	24 h	1	50°C	Epoxy vinyl ester	Cho et al. (2006)
HOPDMS and PDES	100%	48 h	1	150°C	Epoxy + FRC	Moll et al. (2013)
Epoxy and Solvent	82–100%	24 h	1	RT	Epoxy	Blaiszik et al. (2009), Caruso et al. (2007, 2008)
Epoxy and Solvent + scandium (III) triflate	> 80%	48 h	1	80°C	Epoxy	Coope et al. (2011)
Epoxy + CuBr(2)(2-MeIm)(4)	111%	1 h 30 min	1	130–180°C	Epoxy	Yin et al. (2007, 2008)
Epoxy + mercaptan	104%	24 h	1	20°C	Epoxy	Yuan et al. (2008)
Epoxy + MBM tetrathiol	121%	5 days	1	25°C	Epoxy	Billiet et al. (2012)
Epoxy + antimony pentafluoride	71%	15–20 s	1	RT, 0.2Mpa pressure	Epoxy	Ye et al. (2014)

¹ See Appendix A for the definition of healing efficiency.

Figure 2. Composites embedded with hollow fibres (Williams, Bond, & Trask, 2009).

Figure 3. Fabrication of scaffolds. (a) 3D printing using nozzles (Therriault et al., 2003); (b) 3D printing of a biomimicking pattern (Wu et al., 2011); (c) self-propagated photopolymer (Jacobsen et al., 2007).

Figure 4. Vascular network formed in gelatin using sacrificial melt-spun shellac fibres (Bellan, Pearsall, Cropek, & Langer, 2012).

Figure 5. Decomposition of PLA fibre (Esser-Kahn et al., 2011).

Figure 6. Soft lithography for building micro-fluidics devices (Golden & Tien, 2007).

Figure 7. Replication of a leaf venation (He et al., 2013).

Figure 8. Electrostatic discharge to fabricate vascular patterns (Huang et al., 2009).

Table 2. Features of fabrication techniques for vascular networks

	1D Hollow Fibres	Sacrificial fibres/scaffold				Electrostatic discharge	Laser direct-write
		Straight wire/fibre	3D printing	Spinning	Replication
1D vessels	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not predictable	Yes
2D vessels	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not predictable	Yes
3D vessels	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not predictable	No
Interconnection	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Refill	Possible but difficult	Possible but difficult	Easy	Possible but difficult	Easy	Easy	Easy
Size	10–500 µm	10–500 µm	10–500 µm	5–300 µm	Depends on the pattern to be replicated	20–300 µm	Depends on the size of the laser beam
Fabrication time	Short	Short	Medium	Medium	Long	Short	Short
Large-scale fabrication	Yes	Yes	Possible but inefficient	Possible but inefficient	Yes	Yes	Possible but inefficient
Possibility of damage	Low	High	Low	Low	Low	High	Low
Surface roughness	Good	Good	Good	Good	Depends on the pattern to be replicated	Good	Bad

Table 3. Summary of healing performance of vascular self-healing materials

Mechanism	Healing efficiency (%)	Healing condition	Healing cycle	Host material	References
DCPD + Grubbs’ catalyst	70	12 h25°C	7	Epoxy	Toohey et al.( 2007), Toohey, Sottos, et al. (2009)
Epoxy resin + Hardener	60–90	48 h30°C	30	Epoxy	Hansen et al. (2009), Toohey, Hansen, et al. (2009)
Epoxy resin + Hardener	74 and 27	6 h70 and 30°C	1	Epoxy	Hansen et al. (2011)
Epoxy resin + Hardener	87–100	Normally higher than RT	1	FRC	Norris, Meadway, O’Sullivan, Bond, and Trask (2011), Norris et al. (2011a, 2011b, 2012, 2013), Pang and Bond (2005a, 2005b), Patrick et al. (2014), Trask and Bond (2006), Trask, G. J. Williams, et al. (2007), G. Williams et al. (2007), H. R. Williams et al. (2007)
Two-stage chemistry	62	20 min to fill impacted regions, 3 h to restore mechanical function, 125°C	1	PMMA	White et al. (2014)

Figure 9. Sustainable healing.

Figure 10. Healing potential for multi-cycle healing (Toohey, Hansen, et al., 2009).

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