Three-Dimensional Percolation Modeling of Self-Healing Composites

The study models self-healing composites that contain embedded “glue”-carrying cells. It focuses on the early stage of fatigue, when damage has just begun. Using three-dimensional numerical simulations based on a percolation-model approach, the authors extend conductance calculations to 3D lattices. They report that fatigue onset is delayed, producing a plateau-like time dependence of overall material quality. They also show that, in this low-damage regime, changes in conductance (and related transport/response properties) can serve as indicators of material quality degradation. A key 3D-specific result is that healing cells compete with each other, reducing each other’s effective healing efficiency even at low initial cell densities.