Healing efficiency of polystyrene electrospun nanofibers with Grubbs’ catalyst in thermosetting composite

Abstract

The study presents a novel method for the protection of Grubbs’ catalyst, by incorporation in polystyrene fibres via electrospinning technique. Epoxy-glass fibre composite with embedded self-healing agents (polystyrene fibres with Grubbs’ and microcapsules with dicyclopentadiene) was processed. Fibres retained pale purple colour during processing, revealing that fibres provided good protection of the catalyst from the amine hardener. The influence of self-healing agents’ content and thermal treatment on self-healing efficiency was investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that a polydicyclopentadiene formed at the healed interface. Thermal analysis revealed that ‘bleed’ at the healing sites from different samples had similar concentration of polydicyclopentadiene, indicating that the same amount of the catalyst has been provided to dicyclopentadiene for polymerization. This finding lead to assumption that electrospun polymer fibres enabled good dispersion of the catalyst in the composites. The low energy impact tests of the samples showed a recovery of 90% after 24 h at room temperature and up to 111% after repeated heating cycles.

An innovative synergy between solution electrospinning process technique and self‐healing of materials. A critical review

“…In this sub‐section, investigations conducted [ 22,36‐49 ] mainly targeted to SH of PCMs. In, [ 22 ] Kotrotsos and Kostopoulos incorporated two Nylon‐66 electrospun layers (pristine or modified with multi‐walled carbon nanotubes [MWCNTs]) as SHAs into quasi isotropic CFRPs, locally, at critical areas in which damage is expected to be occurred after low velocity impact testing.…”

“…Experimental results revealed that by fibers incorporation, not only improved the initial mechanical properties, but also resulted in SH materials able to recover its initial impact properties up to four times. Radovic et al, [ 41 ] presented a novel method for Grubbs' catalyst protection by incorporation of it into electrospun PS fibers. These core‐shell fibers and microcapsules containing DCPD were embedded into a glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) material to provide SH.…”

“…Based on reviewed publications [ 22,36‐45 ] above, it was shown that most of them targeted to CFRP [ 22,36‐40 ] and GFRP [ 41‐44 ] materials. Authors of work, [ 45 ] selected a FRP material composed of acrylic resin as matrix while it was reinforced by alumina whiskers.…”

“…Authors of work, [ 45 ] selected a FRP material composed of acrylic resin as matrix while it was reinforced by alumina whiskers. Most of them explored materials' healing capability by conducting impact tests, [ 22,41‐42,45 ] 3 PB tests [ 37‐40,43 ] while others investigated their interlaminar fracture toughness properties (Mode I & Mode II). [ 36,44 ] Information about investigations [ 22,36‐45 ] conducted are provided in Table 1.…”

Harnessing the surface chemistry of methyl ester functionalized polydicyclopentadiene and exploring surface bioactivity

“…[1][2][3][4][5] The extensive crosslinking network within PDCPD contributes to high heat and impact resistance, [6][7][8] making it an attractive material for further applications including composite materials, [9][10][11] aerogels, 12,13 and self-healing polymers. [14][15][16] However, PDCPD has a low surface energy when freshly prepared, making it difficult to process or modify, and its lack of chemical functionality -beyond just residual double bonds -limits its broader applications. 17 To address the low surface energy of PDCPD, and to bestow additional function to the polymer, we installed a C-linked ester group on the dicyclopentadiene monomer.…”