Chapter 3 - Self-healing polymers: from general basics to mechanistic aspects

Abstract

Self-healing polymers look back on almost 40 years of history. Beginning in the early 1980s, many different examples were studied—for instance, the self-healing polymers based on microcapsules in 2001. These materials were able to close cracks, to heal damage, and to restore their (mechanical) properties almost like the big role model: nature. The chapter will provide a general discussion of the basic principles of self-healing polymers and will elucidate the underlying healing mechanisms. Thus it will go beyond a pure description of several aspects of self-healing polymers, and it will contain information on how a polymer must be designed to show self-healing. Within this context, a view on the mechanism of extrinsic and intrinsic self-healing polymers will be presented.