Autonomous highlighting of damage in protective polymer coatings allows on-demand maintenance and enables prolongation of the lifetimes of the coated materials. To monitor the entire cycle of damage occurrence and successful healing, one must be able to visualize both processes and display the current health-state of the coating. Herein, we equipped coatings with nanocapsules that can self-indicate their mechanical micro-damage via color development. Hence, whenever the coating was damaged, the capsules broke and highlighted the damaged spot. As a second feature, the color development was reversed and discoloration occurred in the presence of (self-)healing compounds, allowing the user to monitor the healing process. Thus, in the first step, damages were highlighted via color “turn-on” and in the subsequent step a propagating healing reaction “turns-off” the damage indication system to trace the healing reaction and allow monitoring of the entire health cycle.

中文翻译：

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使用损伤自我报告纳米胶囊监测涂层的裂纹外观和愈合情况†

在保护性聚合物涂层中自动突出显示损坏，可以按需维护，并可以延长涂层材料的使用寿命。为了监测损伤发生和成功治愈的整个周期，必须能够可视化这两个过程并显示涂层的当前健康状态。在这里，我们为涂料配备了纳米胶囊，它们可以通过显色来自我指示其机械微损伤。因此，每当涂层损坏时，胶囊破裂并突出损坏的部位。第二个特点是，在（自）修复化合物的存在下，显色反转并且发生了变色，从而使用户可以监控愈合过程。因此，第一步，通过 颜色“打开”，然后在随后的步骤中传播的愈合反应“关闭”损害指示系统，以追踪愈合反应并允许监控整个健康周期。