| Abstract: |
Self-healing smart materials have the potential to be game changers in sustainable infrastructures, providing autonomous repair of delaminated bonds and functional biomimetic structures that may extend service life significantly while minimizing long term cost and environmental footprint. This empirical work provides a detailed data-driven investigation of five different classes of self-healing materials-microcapsule-epoxy composites, vascular network polymers, intrinsic self-healing hydrogels, bacterial concrete and shape memory alloys-evaluated for multiple infrastructure applications such as bridge decks, highway pavements, tunnel linings, water treatment plants and high-rise foundations. Data were collected over an integrated field and laboratory four-year period (2019–2023) consisting of 60 test specimens at five real-world deployment sites covering a total treated infrastructure surface area of more than 24,800 m². Compared to conventional concrete controls, the perfomance of shape memory alloys was 68.9% efficient in healing compared with 91.2% for intrinsic self-healing hydrogels and CO₂ emission reductions ranged from up to 31.8% and maintenance cost savings from up to 47.3%. Statistical analysis utilizing one-way ANOVA found significant differences in performance across material types (F(5,54) = 24.73; p < 0.001). Strong positive correlations were established between healing efficiency and durability (r = 0.912; p < 0.001), CO₂ reduction and service life extension (r = 0.874; p < 0.001) through Pearson correlation analysis. The multiple regression modelling resulted to R² = 0.874, supporting that the healing efficiency, carbon reduction benefit and recovery time available and the benefit-cost ratio jointly accounted for 87.4% of the variation of infrastructure durability indices. This categorization reveals intrinsic self-healing hydrogels to possess the most well-rounded performance profile along tech-environment-economic axes rendering them stro |
