Self-healing polymers: Synthesis methods and applications

Abstract Clays have numerous applications in a variety of applications including engineering, medical and civil areas. The wide applicability of clays is attributed to their useful physico-mechanical as well as biomedical applications, since they are readily available, nontoxic to human body and environment, low cost and having kneading, swelling, adsorption of properties for metal ions. Industrial sectors in different fields are greatly dependent on the usage of different clays, but the cracks or defects or damaged areas present in clays restrict their practical applications. In order to overcome these problems, various polymeric materials have been developed through different strategies to heal the cracks or repair the damaged areas of clays, and improve their properties and potential usage in various applications. This review will address several aspects such as preparation, structure–property relationships, properties of different types of clays and self-healing polymers, healing process of cracks in clays using polymers, crack healing mechanism, test methods of healing efficiency, properties (e.g. structure, hydraulic conductivity, swelling nature, mechanical and rheology) of clays before and after healing of cracks, and their applications.