High-performance self-healing epoxy by microencapsulated epoxy-amine chemistry I: Properties of the adopted healant system

The adopted healant has a significant impact on the final healing performance of self-healing materials. Herein, the healant system, bisphenol-F diglycidyl ether (BFDGE) and polytheramine JEFFAMINE T403, which possesses the capability of fully healing at room temperature (RT) for epoxy, was investigated in depth. The healing potential of this healant system and its healing benchmark after microencapsulation were systematically studied using a manual injecting method. It shows that the maximum and benchmark healing efficiencies respectively reach about 210% and 170% at RT for 48 h. The robustness of the cured healant was checked by studying the mechanical properties of BFDGE/T403. It verified that the tensile properties of the healant are stable after RT curing for 48 h. The curing degree of the healant was further characterized using differential scanning calorimetry by measuring the residual exotherm. It reaches 90% when the maximum healing performance is achieved and stabilizes at 95% thereafter. The results from the manually healing test, the tensile test, and the DSC test, are consistent with each other, which validate the robustness of BFDGE/T403 as healant for self-healing epoxies.