Cohesive Zone Damage-Healing Model for Self-Healing Materials

Abstract

A cohesive zone damage-healing model (CZDHM) derived based on the laws of thermodynamics for self-healing materials is presented. The well-known nominal, healing, and effective configurations of classical continuum damage mechanics are extended to self-healing materials. A new physically-based internal crack healing state variable is proposed for describing the healing evolution within the crack cohesive zone. The effects of temperature, crack-closure, and resting time on the healing behavior are discussed. Numerical examples are conducted to show the various novel features of the formulated CZDHM.