Self-healing of damage in fibre-reinforced polymer-matrix composites
Open accessAbstract
Self-healing resin systems have been discussed for over a decade and four different technologies had been proposed. However, little work on their application as composite matrices has been published although this was one of the stated aims of the earliest work in the field. This paper reports on the optimization of a solid-state self-healing resin system and its subsequent use as a matrix for high volume fraction glass fibre-reinforced composites. The resin system was optimized using Charpy impact testing and repeated healing, while the efficiency of healing in composites was determined by analysing the growth of delaminations following repeated impacts with or without a healing cycle. To act as a reference, a non-healing resin system was subjected to the same treatments and the results are compared with the healable system. The optimized resin system displays a healing efficiency of 65% after the first healing cycle, dropping to 35 and 30% after the second and third healing cycles, respectively. Correction for any healability due to further curing showed that approximately 50% healing efficiency could be achieved with the bisphenol A-based epoxy resin containing 7.5% of polybisphenol-A- co -epichlorohydrin. The composite, on the other hand, displays a healing efficiency of approximately 30%. It is therefore clear that the solid-state self-healing system is capable of healing transverse cracks and delaminations in a composite, but that more work is needed to optimize matrix healing within a composite and to develop a methodology for assessing recovery in performance.
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Hayes et al. found increasing temperature of mending increased healing efficiency of impact-bent epoxy-PBA blends, also true for composites Mode I.
“Hayes et al. [19,20] found that by increasing the temperature of mending, the healing efficiency of the impact-bent epoxy resin-PBA blends increased, which is also true for the composites they examined with the Mode I tests.”
From Modeling of the Healing Process of Polycaprolactone‐Interleaved Carbon Fiber–Reinforced Composites (2025) · cites this paper as [20]
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Modeling of the Healing Process of Polycaprolactone‐Interleaved Carbon Fiber–Reinforced Composites
Magyar, B., Czigány, T., Török, D., Marton, G. Z., Balogh, F., & Szebényi, G. (2025) · Polymer Composites · doi:10.1002/pc.30070 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Hayes et al. [19, 20] used Poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) as a healing agent, which was mixed into the resin before curing.”
- Authors
- Hayes, S. A., Zhang, W., Branthwaite, M., & Jones, F. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- ORCID
- Hayes, S.A
- Venue
- Journal of The Royal Society Interface
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-02-20
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 381-387
- ISSN
- 1742-5662 (ISSN-L)
- 1742-5689
- PMC
- PMC2359850
- OpenAlex
- W2164029904
- Cited by
- 242
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 11.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of The Royal Society Interface (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Sheffield
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer composites and self-healing
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Epoxy Resin Curing Processes
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanics of Materials › Mechanical Behavior of Composites
- Keywords
- self-healing materials, fibre-reinforced plastics, glass fiber reinforced composites, healing efficiency, impact damage, Charpy impact test, bisphenol A epoxy resin, transverse cracking
- MeSH terms
- Biocompatible Materials, Composite Resins, Epoxy Resins, Glass, Materials Testing
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