A self-healing fiber-reinforced structural polymer matrix composite material is demonstrated. In the composite, a microencapsulated healing agent and a solid chemical catalyst are dispersed within the polymer matrix phase. Healing is triggered by crack propagation through the microcapsules, which then release the healing agent into the crack plane. Subsequent exposure of the healing agent to th...

Address: 1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Nanotechnology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany, 2Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 11100, 00076 Aalto, Finland, 3Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Bautzner Landstraße 400, 01328 Dresden, Germany, and 4University of Trieste, Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Scien...

In this paper a series of fracture problems in composite materials are identified, their methods of solution are briefly discussed, and some sample results are presented. The main problem of interest is the determination of the stress state in the neighborhood of localized imperfections such as cracks and inclusions which may exist in the composite. Particular emphasis is placed on the evaluati...

Recent experiments and simulations have demonstrated that particle-covered fluid/fluid interfaces can exist in stable nonspherical shapes as a result of the steric jamming of the interfacially trapped particles. The jamming confers the interface with solidlike properties. We provide an experimental and theoretical characterization of the mechanical properties of these armored objects, with atte...

Non covalent functionalization by π stacking was accomplished by treating multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) through the use of Kentera, a conjugate rigid rod polymer. The functionalized MWNTs were then introduced into the epoxy resins through a combination of shear and elongation forces. The resulting epoxy resin (containing MWNTs) was then impregnated with carbon fiber under hot-melt condi...

The objective of this paper is to perform, by means of Γ -convergence and two-scale convergence, a rigorous derivation of the homogenized GIBBS-LANDAU free energy functional associated to a composite periodic ferromagneticmaterial, i.e. a ferromagneticmaterial in which the heterogeneities are periodically distributed inside the media. We thus describe the Γ -limit of the GIBBS-LANDAU free energ...

Thermography is a non-contact NDT technique for inspection of materials in wide application areas, including corrosion detection in metals, and delamination, porosity and moisture detection in composite materials. Composites often are highly anisotropic in nature. This anisotropy coupled with low thermal diffusivity in thickness direction, severely restricts detection of deeper defects in compo...

A composite material can be defined as a combination of two or more distinct materials at a macroscopic level to attain new properties that can’t be achieved by those of individual components acting alone. Different from metallic alloys, each material keeps its own chemical, physical and mechanical properties [1]. Composite materials have reinforcing and matrix phases. The reinforcing phase wit...