Use of Hoveyda-Grubbs' second generation catalyst in self-healing epoxy mixtures

The development of smart composites capable of self-repair on aeronautical structures is still at the planning stage owing to complex issues to overcome. A very important issue to solve concerns the components' stability of the proposed composites which are compromised at the cure temperatures necessary for good performance of the composite. In this work we analyzed the possibility to apply Hoveyda-Grubbs' second generation catalyst (HG2) to develop self-healing systems. Our experimental results have shown critical issues in the use of epoxy precursors in conjunction with Hoveyda-Grubbs' II metathesis catalyst. However, an appropriate curing cycle of the self-healing mixture permits to overcome the critical issues making possible high temperatures for the curing process without deactivating self-repair activity. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.