Citation for published version : T . S . Qureshi , A . Kanellopoulos , and A

This study presents the application of encapsulated expansive powder minerals (magnesium oxide, bentonite and quicklime) for self-healing of cement-basedmortars. A systemof concentric glassmacrocapsules was used to envelope the expansive minerals (outer capsule) and water (inner capsule). Mortar samples containing concentric macrocapsules with different mineral combinations were cracked and healed under three different curing regimes; ambient conditions, high humidity exposure and immersed inwater. Self-healingwas assessed based on visual crack sealing,mechanical strength recovery and improvement in durability investigated by means of capillary sorption tests. Micro-structural analysis of the healing materialswas investigated using FT-IR, XRDand SEM-EDX for exploring self-healing kinetics. Immersed inwater have yielded the optimum healing efficiency with 95% crack sealing and 25% strength recovery in 28 days. Data showed an increasing trend in 56 days for both crack sealing and load recovery. The improvement in terms of capillary absorption of healed samples was also significant after 28 days of healing. Selfhealing kinetics revealed that the expansivemineralswere hydrated in the initial healing period and slowly carbonated over time until the peripheral crack zone became adequately water tight. 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an openaccess article under the CCBY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).