Fundamental Properties and Self-Healing Performance of Repair Mortar with Solid Capsules Made Using Inorganic Reactive Powder

Self-healing cement composites are generally produced by using materials such as inorganic powders, bacteria pellets, and microcapsules. Among them, inorganic powder-type healing materials tend to decrease in healing performance over time because they react relatively quickly. Accordingly, this study encapsulated self-healing inorganic reactive powders in solid capsules (SC) in order to delay their reaction. The capsule surface was coated with a membrane to prevent moisture from permeating it. SC were utilized to provide the self-healing effect to the repair mortar. SC were mixed at three rates (0%, 5%, and 10%) by the binder mass of the repair mortar. The fundamental properties, including rheology, table flow, strength, and length change, and the self-healing performance of the self-healing repair mortar mixes were investigated. It was found that the rheological and mechanical properties of the repair mortar decreased slightly as the amount of SC increased. On the other hand, for a crack width of 0.25 mm and crack inducing age of 28 days, the healing performance of repair mortar specimens containing SC was at least 20 pt% better than that of plain repair mortar after a healing period of 28 days.