Bio-healing Cement mortar by use of hydrogel encapsulated bacterial spores

Gehad Mokhtar et al.,

encapsulation | bacterial concrete

Vol: 7; Iss:10; Oct 21 | ISSN: 2454-5422

In this study, hydrogel capsules were used as bacterial carriers for crack healing improvement. The hydrogel capsules were resistant to the high pH of concrete and humidity sensitive. Upon cracking, capsules in the crack zone will break. Spores in the broken capsules can germinate and precipitate CaCO3 in the presence of water in the cracks, causing crack healing by calcite. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the viability of using hydrogel capsulated spores to self-heal cracks in a cementitious matrix. The enhanced self-healing efficiency in cracked specimens contributed by encapsulated bacterial spores was demonstrated based on the experimental results from light microscopy. The specimens with bacteria had much higher crack healing ratio compared to control. From our results, the bacterial encapsulation was recommended to be used as bacterial carriers for crack healing and strength improvements.