A facile method for preparation of self-healing epoxy composites: using electrospun nanofibers as microchannels

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibrous mats of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carrying epoxy and amine dual healing solutions were incorporated into an epoxy matrix to impart self-healing functionality. The self-healing performance of the epoxy composites was measured using fracture toughness tests. The average healing efficiency was approximately 75% at 50 °C and 38% at room temperature. The epoxy composites were capable of repeated self-healing for up to 6 times at room temperature. This new method of preparing self-healing epoxy is cheap and versatile and can be optimized for mass production of high performance self-healing structural composites.