Self-healing coatings for textile

Abstract

Self-healing materials have the capabillity to repair (in an early stage) damage, that would finally lead to material failure. This repair or self-healing occurs with the help of a minor external stimulus or autonomously. Depending on the type of application one or the other is more interesting. Nature is the major source of inspiration for his type of research: living organisms already possess the property of autonomous repair of damage (wound healing, recovery of broken limbs). Although the phenomenon of self-healing has been recognized in materials throughout history, especially with regards to biological systems, it was only a few years ago that the property of self-healing was seriously considered as a desirable function for man-made materials. As such several research lines have been set up to investigate the possibilities for various application. Centexbel has looked into the possibilities of a self-healing coating suitable for textiles. In a feasibility study some commercially available products were screened to see their potential as self-healing agents in textile coatings. There was also a need to develop a method enabling to damage the textile coatings in a reproducible way. In this paper the results obtained will be presented. Eventually a textile coating formulation was developed showing autonomous self-healing properties. It was seen that this coating can also be used on non-textile substrates.