A probabilistic micromechanical framework for self-healing polymers containing microcapsules

A probabilistic micromechanical framework is proposed to quantify numerically the self-healing capabilities of polymers containing microcapsules. A two-step self-healing process is designed in this study: A probabilistic micromechanical framework based on the ensemble volume-averaging method is derived for the polymers, and a hitting probability model combined with a crack nucleation model is then utilized for encountering microcapsules and microcracks. Using this framework, a series of parametric investigations are performed to examine the influence of various model parameters (e.g., the volume fraction of microcapsules, microcapsule radius, radius ratio of microcracks to microcapsules, microcrack aspect ratio, and scale parameter) on the self-healing capabilities of the polymers. The proposed framework is also implemented into a finite element code to solve the self-healing behavior of tapered double cantilever beam specimens.