The role of embedded bioinspired vasculature on damage formation in self-healing carbon fibre reinforced composites

This paper presents the design considerations for successful incorporation of bioinspired vascules into a carbon fibre-reinforced epoxy composite laminate. A vasculature capable of delivering functional agents from an external reservoir to regions of internal damage potentially offers the host structure an autonomous self-healing function without incurring a mass penalty. Minimising disruption to the host laminate, in terms of fibre architecture, is key to the successful implementation of such a technology. Two vascule fabrication techniques are demonstrated. The resulting effective internal defects are characterised along with their interaction with a 10J damage event, determined via non-destructive C-scanning and a compression after impact test protocol. The effects of vascule diameter, orientation and interface location are also considered. Vascule orientation was found to be the controlling factor, in terms of maintaining compression performance, regardless of the fabrication route used. However, the fabrication route adopted plays a significant role on the morphology of the impact damage and subsequent vascule-damage connectivity, a pre-requisite for self-healing. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.