Self-Healing Activation by Conventional Resistive Heating through the Addition of Carbon Nanotubes in Epoxy Systems Based on Covalent Adaptable Networks

Abstract

A study of the self-healing capabilities of 2-aminophenyl disulfide (AFD)/epoxy systems is carried out. It has been observed that an excess of AFD promotes an increase of both the storage modulus and the glass transition temperature (Tg) due to an increase of the cross-link density. Concerning the self-healing properties, every AFD/epoxy system shows very good healing efficiencies (above 90%) with no prevalent differences among the different stoichiometries. Furthermore, CNT addition induces an increase of the storage modulus when there is no excess of AFD, but no significant effect is observed on the Tg. In addition, the incorporation of these nanoparticles allows thermal activation by the Joule effect. The results of self-healing tests under convective and resistive heating show similar healing efficiencies (all above 94%). Here, the thermal activation by Joule’s heating presents a lower power consumption and allows localized repair, which is very promising for this type of application.