Dear Colleagues,

Modern concrete emerged in the late 19th century as a durable and maintenance-free construction material. Additionally, although cementitious materials were known to be susceptible to early age cracking and exhibit brittle behavior, reinforced concrete was used to build most of today’s civil infrastructure. The consequential result is a deteriorated infrastructure that is costing billions of dollars annually to repair or replace. Hence, the concept of self-healing cementitious materials has emerged as a viable solution to reduce the use of cement for rebuilding and thus enhance its sustainability by reducing its impact on the environment and economy.

Cement, intrinsically, can heal itself, but its crack healing capacity is limited to specific mixture compositions and environmental conditions. As a result, research efforts are now concentrated on autonomous self-healing where healing agents encapsulated in vessels or micro-capsules, that can be mechanically, thermally, or chemically triggered, are added to the cementitious mixture. However, for the encapsulation to protect the healing agents during mixing, placement, and curing, and to trigger and release the healing agents when the matrix cracks, the geometrical, mechanical, and chemical properties of the healing system should be compatible with the cementitious material. Moreover, the volume of added capsules or other vessels can adversely affect the mechanical properties of the material and efficacy of the healing system.

This Special Issue of Materials aims to showcase the state-of-the-art research, being analytical and experimental, on self-healing cementitious material design, testing, and application. The need exists for 1) test methods to evaluate the properties of the healing system and the efficacy of the self-healing cementitious system that is consistent and repeatable; 2) identifying the capsules/vessels and healing agents’ mechanical and chemical properties and corresponding values; 3) a methodology for designing self-healing cementitious system; and 4) small- and large-scale case studies to demonstrate the benefits and potential shortcomings of self-healing cementitious system. Researchers are invited to submit their work for publication in this Special Issue as a step towards ensuring the sustainability of cementitious material.

Prof. Dr. Samir Chidiac, PEng FCSCE
Guest Editor

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• self-healing
• cementing materials
• concrete
• mortar
• healing agents
• encapsulation
• analytical modeling
• test methods
• design methodology