Self-healing materials for autonomous cable repair

Abstract

Self-healing materials are capable, when damaged, of responding to restore the pre-damage properties of an asset. This is of particular interest for high-value electrical assets which cannot be routinely accessed for preventive maintenance or repair, such as underground or offshore cables. The incorporation of self-healing materials would effectively allow these systems to maintain themselves, resulting in enhanced resilience, lower failure rates, and longer operational lifetimes. Here, the authors demonstrate self-repair systems for extruded polymeric cables containing an extruded polymer self-repair layer, and self-healing fluids for legacy fluid-filled circuits. Both self-healing candidates have been formulated for their specific applications and demonstrate excellent efficacy, with ability to move to large-scale trials planned for the near future in advance of routine deployment.