Self Healing Coatings

Abstract

Abstract

The need of durable materials is very crucial. All the material that we use in our day to day life generally disintegrates and decomposes with time. There are various reasons for that. But one solution which can help improve is self healing materials. Self healing composites are materials capable of automatic recovery when damaged. Automatic recovery of materials increases life, improves efficiency and reduces causes of fatal destruction. They are inspired by biological systems such as human skin which are naturally able to heal themselves. This paper reviews the work on self healing composites. Damage to material is caused by many reasons one of which is corrosion. Corrosion produces a layer which degrades metal slowly. Many options are there to prevent corrosion but none are permanent one method is coating. Different active pigments are used and varied combination of them helps increase the life of the coating. Coating provides a barrier to various phenomena such as dust and moisture particles, however it also has its failures. It fails to protect the material from scratching and various environmental factors. In order to tweak it optimally, coating has been modified to make it self mending. Self‐healing coatings that autonomically repair and prevent corrosion of the underlying substrate are created through dispersion of microencapsulated healing agents in a polymer film. Such way cracks are healed.  The paper discusses the effects of corrosion and damages caused due to it. It also mentions solution. The process of self healing and coating using capsule based self healing material is focused and its applications are briefly discussed. This material provides an abundance of applications in sectors of military, automobile, space equipment. Finally, future opportunities on self healing approaches are discussed in day to day applications as well as in huge projects.