Fabrication of 3D micro-vascular network based carbon nanotube materials by the direct-write microfluidic infiltration approach for self healing applications

Self healing nanocomposites consisting of blend of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) materials and 5-Ethylidene-2-norbornene (5E2N) monomer were fabricated and organized into 3D structures beams by means of the micro-vascular network infiltration based on the UV assisted direct-write assembly technology. The kinetic of the 5E2N-Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization (ROMP) was studied both as a function of the temperature domain and the Grubbs catalyst to the 5E2N monomer ratio and demonstrated that the ROMP reaction still effective in a large temperature domain (-15 to 40°C) with an excellent percent of monomer conversion (> 90%) happening in very short time. The nano-indentation analyses have shown a clear increase in the stiffness-with respect to the SWNT loads. This approach demonstrated here opens new prospects for space-device assembly and the using carbon nanotube/healing agent nanocomposites materials for self-repair functionality.