Microencapsulation of Epoxy Resins for Self-Healing Material

Abstract

With the development of the embedded microcapsule concept for self-healing material, the preparation of microcapsule has been paid more attentions. A new series of microcapsules were prepared by in situ polymerization technology in an oil-in-water emulsion with polyoxymethylene urea (PMU) as shell material and a mixture of epoxy resins as core material. The PMU microcapsules were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), particle size analyzer and thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA) to investigate their chemical structure, surface morphology, size distribution and thermal stability, respectively. The results indicate that PMU microcapsules containing epoxy resins can be synthesized successfully. The optimized reaction parameters were obtained as follow: agitation rate 600 rpm, 60°C water bath, pH=3.5, core material 20ml and hot water dilution by in-situ polymerization. The size is around 116 μm. The rough outer surface of microcapsule is composed of agglomerated PMU nanoparticles. The microcapsules basically exhibit good storage stability at room temperature, and they are chemically stable before the heating temperature is up to approximately 200°C.