Self-healing materials are a category of materials that have structurally assimilated the ability to repair damage caused by excess use over time. Any material in which the healing process occurs without human involvement can be defined as self-healing material. Self-healing materials are inspired from biological systems that demonstrate the ability to repair themselves after being damaged. Once the damage is inflicted, molecules of self-healing materials realign to imitate the original structural arrangement.
In latest research, linseed oil was successfully encapsulated in poly(urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) shell via in-situ polymerization to achieve a microcapsule-based self-healing coating.The stable microcapsules with the high content of core materials ensured the self-healing function. By observation from SEM, the self-healing coating showed excellent healing performance upon artificial cracks comparing to the blank epoxy coating.
Volume 105, April 2017, Pages 99–110