Study on the Effect of Core-Shell Abaca Vascular Carriers on the Self-Healing and Mechanical Properties of Thermoset Panels

Self-healing panels were prepared using vinyl ester (VE) and vascular abaca fibers (unidirectional) through the hand lay-up process. Initially, two sets of abaca fibers (AF) were prepared by filling the healing resin VE and hardener and stacking both core-filled unidirectional fibers in a 90° direction to obtain sufficient healing. The experimental results demonstrated that the healing efficiency increased by approximately 3%. SEM-EDX analysis further confirmed the healing process by exhibiting spill-out resin and the respective fibers’ major chemical elements at the damaged site after self-healing. The tensile, flexural, and Izod impact strengths of self-healing panels indicated improved strengths of 7.85%, 49.43%, and 53.84%, respectively, compared with fibers with empty lumen-reinforced VE panels due to the presence of a core and interfacial bonding between the reinforcement and matrix. Overall, the study proved that abaca lumens could effectively serve as healing carriers for thermoset resin panels.