Effects of Microcapsules on Mechanical Properties and Thermal Stability of Microcapsule Embedded Polymeric Resins

This study investigated the effects of microcapsules on mechanical properties and thermal stability of the composite material containing self-healing microcapsules. To this end, tensile specimens and flexural specimens containing melamine-urea-formaldehyde (M-U-F) shell walled microcapsules with diameters of 70 similar to 130 mu m were manufactured. Varying amount of microcapsules in the specimens was considered: 0 wt%, 0.5 wt%, and 1.0 wt%. The tensile and flexural tests were conducted to evaluate mechanical properties of the specimens containing the microcapsules and the thermogravimetric analysis test was performed to evaluate the thermal stability of the specimens containing the microcapsules. The results show that the tensile strength of the specimens was sensitive to the amount of the microcapsules compared to the tensile modulus even though the tensile modulus of the specimens was not significantly affected by the amount of the microcapsules. However, reduction of the tensile strength was not linearly proportional to the amount of microcapsules; similar results were observed in the flexural test. The weight changes of the specimens containing the microcapsules, as a function of temperature, were similar to those specimens without microcapsules. The thermal stability of the specimens was not affected significantly by the microcapsules embedded in the specimens.