Fig. 4: Mode-I fracture and in situ self-healing performance.
From: Prolonged in situ self-healing in structural composites via thermo-reversible entanglement
a Top surface temperature distribution of a fractured double cantilever beam (DCB) during a self-healing thermal remending cycle. b Representative load versus displacement behavior for a virgin and self-healed DCB specimen. c Delamination resistance (i.e., GIC) evolution for GFRP and CFRP specimens at various as-printed EMAA areal coverages (12, 24, and 36%) over 20 heal cycles; dashed lines indicate values for plain (unmodified) composites. Error bars represent the standard deviation from the mean (n = 3). d Healing efficiency (\(\hat{\eta }={G}_{{{{{{{{\rm{IC}}}}}}}}}^{{{{{{{{\rm{healed}}}}}}}}}/{G}_{{{{{{{{\rm{IC}}}}}}}}}^{{{{{{{{\rm{virgin}}}}}}}}}\)) behavior for self-healing composite laminates in (c). Error bars represent the standard deviation from the mean (n = 3). e Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of fracture surfaces in GFRP (top) and CFRP (bottom) composites after virgin, 5 heal, 10 heal, and 20 heal test cycles showing EMAA microporous network development and distribution evolution (scale bars = 50 μm).
