Seal Healing Honeycomb Material

Self-Healing Hull Specification

Purpose: To create a ship hull capable of autonomously repairing minor to moderate damage, enhancing durability, and reducing maintenance costs.
Design Concept: A composite structure where a honeycomb core is sandwiched between two layers of protective skins, with the core filled with a self-healing gel.

Outer Skin:
- Material: High-strength, which provides resistance to impacts, corrosion, and UV radiation.
- Thickness: variable.
- Features:
  - UV protection coating.
  - Anti-fouling treatment to prevent marine growth.
Inner Skin:
- Material: A lighter, less rigid composite, such as carbon fibre reinforced polymer, to maintain structural integrity while allowing flexibility for the self-healing mechanism.
- Thickness: variable.
- Features:
  - Sound and thermal insulation properties.
Honeycomb Core:
- Material: lightweight strength and rigidity.
- Cell Size: 6-10 mm per cell to balance weight with strength.
- Height: 20-30 mm.
- Purpose: Provides structural support while housing the self-healing gel.
Self-Healing Gel:
- Composition: A polymer-based gel with microcapsules containing healing agents (like dicyclopentadiene) and catalysts (like Grubbs' catalyst). When damage occurs, the capsules break, releasing the chemicals to polymerize and heal the breach.
- Properties:
  - Non-toxic, marine-safe.
  - Temperature and pressure resistant.
  - Gel should be viscous enough to stay in place but not so much that it clogs or leaks from minor punctures.

Trigger: Mechanical damage or pressure change causing microcapsules to rupture.
Process: Upon breach, healing agents mix and polymerize, filling and sealing the damage. This process can be accelerated with slight heating or pressure change.
Efficiency: Expected repair for minor to moderate damage (up to 15 mm diameter holes) within 24 hours under optimal conditions.

Installation:
- Layering process in a controlled environment, ensuring no air or moisture is trapped between layers.
- Gel infusion must be precise to avoid over or under-filling cells.
Maintenance:
- Regular checks for the integrity of both skins and the functionality of the gel using non-invasive diagnostic tools like ultrasound or infrared imaging.
- Potential replacement or re-infusion of gel if significant degradation or depletion occurs.

Lab Tests: Impact resistance, puncture tests, cyclic fatigue, environmental exposure.
Field Tests:
- Real-world application on small vessels before full-scale implementation on larger ships.
- Monitoring with sensors embedded in the structure for real-time performance data.

End-of-life: Considerations for recycling or disposal of the materials, focusing on the environmentally friendly decomposition of the gel and composites.

Research and Development: Ensure all materials and processes are either patented or the use is licensed appropriately to avoid infringement.