Session: 06-04: Bioinspired Smart Composites

Paper Number: 117652

117652 - Sustained Self-Healing of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites via in Situ Thermal Remending 

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are attractive structural materials due to their high specific strength/stiffness and excellent corrosion resistance. However, the lack of through-thickness reinforcement in laminated composites creates inherent susceptibility to fiber-matrix debonding (i.e., interlaminar delamination). This multi-scale damage mode has proven difficult to detect and nearly impossible to repair via conventional methods, and thus remains a significant factor limiting the reliability of laminated composites in lightweight structures. An emerging class of synthetic self-healing polymers and composites possess property-retaining functions with the promise of longer lifetimes. But prolonged in-service repair of structural fiber-reinforced composites remains unfulfilled due to material heterogeneity and thermodynamic barriers in commonly cross-linked polymer-matrix constituents. Overcoming these inherent challenges for mechanical self-recovery is vital to extend in-service operation and attain widespread adoption of such bioinspired structural materials. 

In this talk, I will describe the recent development of a new self-healing FRP composite platform¹ based on thermally-induced dynamic bond re-association of 3D-printed polymer interlayers. In contrast to prior thermal remending approaches, self-repair of delamination occurs in situvia resistive heating and below the glass-transition temperature of the thermoset matrix, thereby maintaining elastic modulus during repair. Rapid (minute-scale) and sustained (100+) self-healing cycles have been achieved with fracture recovery reaching 100% of the interlayer toughened composite. Moreover, This latest self-healing advancement in both glass- and carbon-fiber composites exhibits unprecedented potential for prolonged in-service repair along with material multi-functionality (e.g., deicing ability), thereby enabling application versatility.

References

[1]     Snyder, A.D., Phillips, Z.J., Turicek, J.S., Diesendruck, C.E., Nakshatrala, K.B., & Patrick, J.F., Prolonged in situ self-healing in structural composites via thermo-reversible entanglement, Nature Communications, 13:6511 (2022).

Presenting Author: Jason Patrick North Carolina State University

Presenting Author Biography: Assistant Professor Jason Patrick obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and was a post-doctoral fellow at the interdisciplinary Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology on the UIUC campus prior to joining the faculty in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Research in Dr. Patrick’s group is directed toward the creation and understanding of bioinspired material systems that exhibit multi-functionality for enhanced performance, reliability, economy, and longevity. He has made significant contributions to the field of multifunctional materials, being a pioneer in self-healing microvascular composites, including co-inventing the vaporization of sacrificial components (VaSC) process. Most recently, Jason and his team have developed and patented the first self-healing composite laminates with sustained in situ repair, thus paving the way for industrial translation of such self-healing structural materials via his start-up company (Structeryx, Inc.). Understanding that interdisciplinary science and education is key to further advancements, Prof. Patrick continues to strengthen his own expertise in solid/fluid mechanics, chemistry, materials science, and optics/electronics while establishing newfound collaborations with academia and industry cutting across disciplines.