Regeneration efficiency of composites containing two‐sized capillaries

The aim of this work is to develop a composite material containing a regeneration system and to demonstrate its self‐healing properties. For this purpose, we will study the self‐healing behavior of composites that are fabricated with a regeneration system consisting of two‐sized capillaries filled with epoxy resin and hardener. Composites with restorative systems containing identical microtube diameters can be found in the literature, but until now no comparative studies with multiple diameter structures have been published. We will prove that a regeneration system containing two types of capillaries with diameters of 100 and 50 μm is more efficient (68% recovery of bending strength and Young's modulus after third regeneration) than a regeneration system containing capillaries with the same diameter (44% recovery of bending strength and 44% recovery of Young's modulus after third regeneration). POLYM. COMPOS. 37:1223–1230, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers