About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
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Symposium
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2024 ASC Technical Conference, US-Japan Joint Symposium, D30 Meeting
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Presentation Title |
Opto-vascular Synchrony for Autonomous Self-healing and Self-sensing in Structural Polymers and Composites
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Author(s) |
Zachary Phillips, William Martin, Jason Patrick |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Zachary Phillips |
Abstract Scope |
Living organisms feature the ability to autonomously detect and repair injury for survival. Bioinspired vasculature can impart self-healing within synthetic materials via reactive liquid chemistry that is contained within micro-channels and released upon damage [1]. However, prior microvascular approaches utilizing two-part healing agents have faced challenges with in situ mixing, long healing times, and the propensity for channel blockages due to cross-contamination [2]. Moreover, while integrated sensing strategies have been developed in soft materials [3,4] and single-use embodiments in rigid materials [5], truly coupling self-healing and self-sensing in a repeatable fashion remains an unmet challenge in structural materials.
Here we describe the development of self-healing and self-sensing strategy for structural thermosets and fiber-reinforced composites. This new ‘opto-vascular’ platform features a one-part reactive healing agent that is released from ruptured vasculature and photo-polymerized to self-repair internal cracks via light escaping from fractured optical fibers. The cationic photochemistry is formulated for rapid (minute-scale) visible blue light (405 nm) photopolymerization that is 50x faster than established two-part healing agents. An orthogonal red light (660 nm) sensing strategy provides reliable monitoring over multiple damage/repair cycles. In situ experiments achieve 95% recovery of mode-I fracture toughness and 80% restoration of light transmission through the embedded optical fibers. Combining the repairable optical signal pathway with feedback control, enables autonomic and repeated self-healing/sensing that is well poised to eliminate manual inspection/repair for more sustainable polymer composite infrastructure. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Definite: Post-meeting proceedings |