In this study, a fishing line artificial muscle reinforced syntactic foam composite was investigated. About 3.5 vol.% of polymer artificial muscle was woven into a two-dimensional grid skeleton and embedded into a syntactic foam matrix. The grid-stiffened syntactic foam composite was designed to be able to repeatedly heal cracks on-demand. Short thermoplastic fibers were also dispersed into the foam matrix both as reinforcement and as a healing agent. The composite panel was repeatedly impacted, bending fractured, and healed as per the biomimetic close-then-heal strategy. It is found that the composite panel responds to impact quasi-statically. The impact- and bending-induced macroscopic cracks can be repeatedly healed with high healing efficiency, under both free and clamped boundary conditions. Contrary to most healing systems, the healing efficiency within the damage–healing cycles in this study increases as the damage-healing cycle increases. Because the artificial muscle is made of low-cost and high-strength fishing line, it is envisioned that the composite panel developed in this study may be a viable alternative core for healable lightweight composite sandwich structures at competitive cost.
IshaiOHielC. Damage tolerance of a composite sandwich with interleaved foam core. J Compos Technol Res1992; 14: 155–168.
2.
ReddyTWenHReidS. Penetration and perforation of composite sandwich panels by hemispherical and conical projectiles. J Press Vess Technol1998; 120: 186–194.
3.
MinesRAWWorrallCMGibsonAG. Low velocity perforation behaviour of polymer composite sandwich panels. Int J Impact Eng1998; 21: 855–879.
4.
VaidyaUKNelsonSSinnB. Processing and high strain rate impact response of multi-functional sandwich composites. Compos Struct2001; 52: 429–440.
5.
AktayLJohnsonAFHolzapfelM. Prediction of impact damage on sandwich composite panels. Comput Mater Sci2005; 32: 252–260.
6.
HouWHZhuFLuGX. Ballistic impact experiments of metallic sandwich panels with aluminum foam core. Int J Impact Eng2010; 37: 1045–1055.
7.
LiG. Self-healing composites: Shape memory polymer based structures, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014.
8.
LiGNettlesD. Thermomechanical characterization of a shape memory polymer based self-repairing syntactic foam. Polymer2010; 51: 755–762.
LiGJohnM. A self-healing smart syntactic foam under multiple impacts. Compos Sci Technol2008; 68: 3337–3343.
11.
NjiJLiG. A self-healing 3D woven fabric reinforced shape memory polymer composite for impact mitigation. Smart Mater Struct2010; 19: 035007–035007.
12.
JohnMLiG. Self-healing of sandwich structures with a grid stiffened shape memory polymer syntactic foam core. Smart Mater Struct2010; 19: 075013–075013.
13.
LiGMengHHuJ. Healable thermoset polymer composite embedded with stimuli-responsive fibres. J R Soc Interface2012; 9: 3279–3287.
14.
NjiJLiG. A biomimic shape memory polymer based self-healing particulate composite. Polymer2010; 51: 6021–6029.
15.
LiGAjisafeOMengH. Effect of strain hardening of shape memory polymer fibers on healing efficiency of thermosetting polymer composites. Polymer2013; 54: 920–928.
16.
LiGZhangP. A self-healing particulate composite reinforced with strain hardened short shape memory polymer fibers. Polymer2013; 54: 5075–5086.
17.
LiGKingAXuT. Behavior of thermoset shape memory polymer-based syntactic foam sealant trained by hybrid two-stage programming. J Mater Civ Eng2012; 25: 393–402.
18.
LiGShojaeiA. A viscoplastic theory of shape memory polymer fibres with application to self-healing materials. Proc R Soc A Math Phys Sci2012; 468: 2319–2346.
19.
YangQLiG. Investigation into stress recovery behavior of shape memory polyurethane fiber. J Polym Sci Part B Polym Phys2014; 52: 1429–1440.
20.
ShojaeiALiG. Thermomechanical constitutive modelling of shape memory polymer including continuum functional and mechanical damage effects. Proc R Soc A Math Phys Sci2014; 470: 20140199–20140199.
21.
ZhangPLiG. Structural relaxation behavior of strain hardened shape memory polymer fibers for self‐healing applications. J Polym Sci Part B Polym Phys2013; 51: 966–977.
22.
GrillardFZakriCGaillardP. How polymers lose memory with age. Soft Matter2014; 10: 8985–8991.
23.
HainesCSLimaMDLiN. Artificial muscles from fishing line and sewing thread. Science2014; 343: 868–872.
24.
Mirvakili SM, Ravandi AR, Hunter IW, et al. Simple and strong: Twisted silver painted nylon artificial muscle actuated by Joule heating. In: Proceedings of SPIE 9056 on electroactive polymer actuators and devices (EAPAD), San Diego, CA, USA, 2014.
25.
SharafiSLiG. A mutliscale approach for modeling actuation response of polymeric artificial muscle. Soft Matter2015; 11: 3833–3843.
26.
ZhangPLiG. Healing-on-demand composites based on polymer artificial muscle. Polymer2015; 64: 29–38.
27.
LiGMuthyalaVD. Impact characterization of sandwich structures with an integrated orthogrid stiffened syntactic foam core. Compos Sci Technol2008; 68: 2078–2084.
28.
LiGChakkaVS. Isogrid stiffened syntactic foam cored sandwich structure under low velocity impact. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manuf2010; 41: 177–184.
29.
OlssonR. Analytical prediction of large mass impact damage in composite laminates. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manuf2001; 32: 1207–1215.
30.
OlssonR. Mass criterion for wave controlled impact response of composite plates. Compos. Part A: Appl Sci Manuf2000; 31: 879–887.
31.
OlssonR. Closed form prediction of peak load and delamination onset under small mass impact. Compos Struct2003; 59: 341–349.
32.
LimaMDLiNDe AndradeMJ. Electrically, chemically, and photonically powered torsional and tensile actuation of hybrid carbon nanotube yarn muscles. Science2012; 338: 928–932.
33.
MirvakiliSMPazukhaASikkemaW. Niobium nanowire yarns and their application as artificial muscles. Adv Funct Mater2013; 23: 4311–4316.
34.
YangQLiG. Spider-silk-like shape memory polymer fiber for vibration damping. Smart Mater Struct2014; 23: 105032–105032.
35.
MenYRiegerJLindnerP. Structural changes and chain radius of gyration in cold-drawn polyethylene after annealing: Small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering and small-angel neutron scattering. J Phys Chem B2005; 109: 16650–16657.
36.
WassellPOkamuraAYoungNWG. Synchrotron radiation macrobeam and microbeam X-ray diffraction studies of interfacial crystallization of fats in water-in-oil emulsions. Langmuir2012; 28: 5539–5547.
37.
PingPWangWChenX. Poly(ε-caprolactone) polyurethane and its shape-memory property. Biomacromolecules2005; 6: 587–592.
38.
KalistaSJJrWardTCOyetunjiZ. Self-healing of poly (ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) copolymers following projectile puncture. Mech Adv Materi Struct2007; 14: 391–397.
39.
NjiJLiG. A CaO enhanced rubberized syntactic foam. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manuf2008; 39: 1404–1411.
40.
AgarwalBDBroutmanLJChandrashekharaK. Analysis and performance of fiber composites, 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.
