Healing of impact damage in woven glass fabric reinforced epoxy composites

Woven glass fabric reinforced epoxy composite laminates were provided with crack healing capability by pre-dispersing a novel repair system in the composites’ matrix. The healing agent consisted of epoxy-loaded microcapsules and latent hardener CuBr2(2-MeIm)4 (the complex of CuBr2 and 2-methylimidazole). Compression after impact (CAI) tests were conducted to evaluate mechanical performance of the laminates before and after crack healing. Moreover, healing efficiency was studied as a function of impact energy, repair pressure, content and size of the microencapsulated epoxy. The experimental results indicated that the healing agent worked in repairing matrix cracks generated by impact. The composites should be heated to 140 °C for 0.5 h to achieve healing and moderate pressure was needed to close larger crack damage for good healing.