10 - Electrospun nanofibers for interfacial toughening and damage self-healing of polymer composites and surface coatings

Abstract

The electrospinning technique provides the opportunity to produce low-cost, continuous nanofibers of natural and synthetic polymers and polymer-derived carbon, silicon, metals, metal oxides, ceramics, etc. for a variety of cutting-edge applications, including nanofiber-reinforced composites, tissue engineering, gas/liquid filtration, wound dressing, energy harvesting, conversion, storage, and so on. This chapter briefly reviews the recent development of electrospun nanofiber-based interfacial toughening and damage self-healing for advanced composites and surface coatings. Particular attention is given to controllable fabrication of continuous monolithic and core-shell healing agent-loaded nanofibers by electrospinning, coelectrospinning, emulsion electrospinning, needleless electrospinning, processing of polymer matrix composites (PMCs), and surface coatings reinforced with toughening and healing agent-loaded nanofibers, as well as characterization and modeling of interfacial toughening and damage-healing mechanisms. The main advantages of the nanofiber-based interfacial toughening and self-healing technique include its low cost in manufacturing (based on electrospinning), low weight penalty to the resulting structures (with electrospun nanofibers <1%wt embedded at interfaces), and low impact on composite processing where the toughening and self-healing nanofiber interlayers can be directly incorporated into the conventional composite processing systems. The technical challenges and promising future of novel nanofiber-reinforced self-healing PMCs and surface coatings are addressed as well.