Date of Award

Fall 2008

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Materials Science

Degree Name

Master of Science

Abstract

Polymer coatings are vulnerable to external and internal damage. Formation of microcracks can occur because of an impact event or through oscillatory stresses such as thermal expansion and contraction. Self-healing offers a solution to respond to internal damage and repair the polymeric structure.

This work utilizes a dual microcapsule system as the autonomous self-healing mechanism for use in an epoxy coating. The system is comprised of an epoxy resin microcapsule and an amine adduct capsule embedded in an epoxy matrix. Encapsulation of the epoxy resin was achieved, however encapsulation of the amine adduct is very challenging, and was the main focus of this work. The amine adduct has been successfully encapsulated, resulting in a satisfactory microcapsule payload and size, but reproducibility has proven to be difficult. Though reproducibility is an issue, the adhesive properties of amine adduct and epoxy capsules have been successful by adhering two pieces of epoxy together.

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