• Santana, Marianella Hernandez
• Chemello, Enrico
• Verdejo, Raquel
• Lopez-Manchado, Miguel
• Peñas-Caballero, Mónica
• Grande, Antonio Mattia

Abstract

<jats:p>Self-healing materials offer a potential solution to the problem of damage to fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) by allowing for the in-service repair of composite materials at a lower cost, in less time, and with improved mechanical properties compared to traditional repair methods. This study investigates for the first time the use of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a self-healing agent in FRPs and evaluates its effectiveness both when blended with the matrix and when applied as a coating to carbon fibres. The self-healing properties of the material are evaluated using double cantilever beam (DCB) tests for up to three healing cycles. The blending strategy does not impart a healing capacity to the FRP due to its discrete and confined morphology; meanwhile, coating the fibres with the PMMA results in healing efficiencies of up to 53% in terms of fracture toughness recovery. This efficiency remains constant, with a slight decrease over three subsequent healing cycles. It has been demonstrated that spray coating is a simple and scalable method of incorporating a thermoplastic agent into an FRP. This study also compares the healing efficiency of specimens with and without a transesterification catalyst and finds that the catalyst does not increase the healing efficiency, but it does improve the interlaminar properties of the material.</jats:p>

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• morphology
• Carbon
• laser emission spectroscopy
• composite
• thermoplastic
• fracture toughness
• spray coating