Self-sealing Polymeric Materials: Mechanism and Applications

Self-sealing polymers possess the virtue to seal small punctures/cracks/damages automatically whenever occurred in the materials/components during their service. This behaviour of self-sealing in polymeric materials is inspired by the biological system in which self-sealing is a usual phenomenon. There are many self-sealing approaches demonstrated by researchers which are being applied in many polymeric components and systems to prevent them from catastrophic failure. The sealant materials in these systems are the main parts which play a crucial role in the sealing phenomenon. This review article describes self-sealing phenomenon, sealant materials and their applications in the various strategic materials and systems namely self-sealing spacecraft structures in the meteoroid environments, self-sealing fuel tank for fighter aircrafts, self-sealing hemostatic syringe to prevent bleeding, self-sealing tires to prevent punctures and concrete structures to prevent water leakages etc.