Characterization of the self-healing process by the combined application of μ-computed tomography & in-situ mechanical loading

Abstract

This dissertation report investigates the design and assembly of a mechanical loading stage (load cell component) to be used for combined implementation of micro- Computed Tomography (CT) and in-situ mechanical loading to investigate the process of self-healing in micro-encapsulated epoxy material. The process was studied by applying in-situ stepped compressive loading during the scanning so as to get scanned images of the material deformation instantaneously. A Ioad cell was designed and fabricated to be mounted on the CT machine to be used for the application of the required compressive Ioad on the sample material. The X-Ray parameters viz. Tube voltage, Amperage (tube current and the exposure time), Magnification, Number of projections, Reconstruction method and Contrast settings etc. were optimized using trial and enw method to obtain images with adequate contrast for further image processing. This analysis will be helpful to study the mechanism of self-healing in micro-encapsulated materials and will be helpful in improvising the fabrication methods of the materials so as to obtain better properties.