Smart Building Materials which Prevent Damage or Repair Themselves

We developed designs in which hollow porous fibers filled with chemicals release them into a matrix over time. A coating covering the fibers is degraded by chemicals, pH change, or broken by structural loading, thus, releasing the chemicals. These stimuli for release are the very agents of environmental attack. The design to alleviate cracking consists of hollow porous fiberglass fibers containing crack-closing chemicals. The chemicals are released from the fibers when the outer sheath cracks or the fibers flex due to loading. This is the ideal situation in which the agent of environmental degradation, namely loading, is the stimulus to release the repair chemical. The design to prevent corrosion consists of an anticorrosion chemical in hollow porous polypropylene fibers. Change in chloride ion concentration dissolves the polyol coating and allows the chemical to be released from the fiber wall. The cause of deterioration, change in chloride level which causes corrosion, is the sensor (coating deterioration) and also the activator for the remedial or preventive action (release of anticorrosion chemical). These are distributed systems responding to environmental stimuli for sensing and repairing when and where they are needed. The control of the amount of chemical released is being researched mainly as a function of coating design and also fiber type.