Seal Healing Honeycomb Material

Self-Healing Hull Specification

Overview:

• 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.

Structural Components:

• 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.

Self-Healing Mechanism:

• 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 and Maintenance:

• 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.

Testing and Validation:

• 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.

Environmental Considerations:

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

Patent and Intellectual Property:

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