Experimental characterization of the self-healing capacity of cement based materials and its effects on the material performance: A state of the art report by COST Action SARCOS WG2

In this framework the Working Group 2 of the COST Action CA 15202 “Self-healing as preventive repair of concrete structures - SARCOS” has undertaken the ambitious task reported in this paper. As a matter of fact this state of the art provides a comprehensive and critical review of the experimental methods and techniques, which have been employed to characterize and quantify the self-sealing and/or self-healing capacity of cement-based materials, as well as the effectiveness of the different self-sealing and/or self-healing engineering techniques, together with the methods for the analysis of the chemical composition and intrinsic nature of the self-healing products. The review will also address the correlation, which can be established between crack closure and the recovery of physical/mechanical properties, as measured by means of the different reviewed tests.