Constitutive model and damage of self-healing 3D braided composites with microcapsules

In this paper, a constitutive model and damage of self-healing three-dimensional (3D) braided composites with microcapsules are investigated. First, a constitutive model that takes into account the impact of microcapsules is established to study the stress distribution in self-healing composite materials. Second, a 3D multiscale finite element (FE) model of the 3D braided self-healing composites with microcapsules is developed to assess the self-healing impact of the microcapsules on fiber-matrix debonding damage. Finally, the effects of microcapsule position and the presence of several microcapsules on stress distribution and healing effectiveness are further examined. The findings demonstrate that the proposed constitutive model is adaptive to the design and improvement of the current self-healing smart composites.