The world of smart healable materials

This review will present a comprehensive view of the field of stimuli-responsive healable materials. It will begin with an examination of the healing of polymeric materials, briefly discussing the conventional techniques for repair and maintenance of composite materials. It will continue with a detailed analysis of the various systems that have been proposed and investigated over the past two decades, with particular emphasis on work published in the past two years. These systems will be introduced according to the particular stimulus responsible for initiation of healing to occur, moving from mechanical damage to heat, electricity, electromagnetic field, ballistic impact, and light. This discussion will cover the work done in the early days of healable materials, and will include current trends and potential future directions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.