Visualization of damage in spread carbon fiber/epoxy laminates encompassing self-healing

Abstract

Damage behavior of self-healing spread carbon fiber (SCF)/epoxy (EP) laminates was investigated in this study. A UV fluorescent dye was mixed to a healing agent within microcapsules to observe damage behavior of SCF/EP laminates visually. The apparent interlaminar shear strength and the healing efficiency of the laminates were evaluated by short beam shear testing. After the testing, a damaged area was observed by optical microscope under UV light source. It could be visually observed under UV light source that the healing agents released from broken microcapsules into crack plane, and the cracks propagated through microcapsules. The results also showed that the damage behavior can affect the apparent interlaminar shear strength and the healing efficiency of the laminates.