Validation of Self-Healing Properties of Construction Materials through Nondestructive and Minimal Invasive Testing

When studying the self-healing properties of construction materials, a plethora of destructive and nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques can be used. In this review, the applicability of different nondestructive test methods is discussed in detail. The methods can be categorized whether they are used to study the encapsulation and/or protection mechanism of the healing agent, the sequestered healing agent itself, the distribution of healing agents, the trigger mechanism for healing, the healing efficiency, or healing performance. Based on this categorization, nondestructive techniques found in literature are discussed. In this way, a robust understanding of the different techniques can be used for future research on self-healing construction materials.