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Manual maintenance and repair of cracks in concrete structures are oftenunsustainable because of associated labor, capital and environmental damage.Introduction of microfibers and superabsorbent polymers is a material solutionto restrict crack propagation and enhance self-healing efficiency. Therefore,the study proposes a combination of polypropylene(PP) fibers and superabsorbentpolymers (SAP) which would facilitate autonomous healing and recover originalmechanical and durability properties of mortar. Mechanical strength, sorptivityand water penetration of healed mortars were compared to that of undamagedmortar at same age to estimate recovery of original properties while cracksealing was investigated by means of optical microscopy. Experimental resultsshow mortar with combination of PP fibers and SAP showed full recovery ofmechanical strength after healing while recovery in durability up to 90% wasrecorded. Microscopic images show that average crack-sealing ratio of 85% couldbe achieved under moist condition by combination of SAP and PP fibers whilesealing under drier air curing condition is also significantly higher thanreference samples with only fibers. Crack width up to 330{\mu}m has been foundto be completely sealed by carbonate crystals. Furthermore, mortar with SAP andPP fibers retain about 70% of their original 28-day strength after three cyclesof loading while reference mortar samples were found to retain only about40-50% of their original strength. Effective crack sealing and high recovery oforiginal properties in mortars with SAP and fibers suggest that this materialcombination would reduce the need for environmentally damaging and expensiverepairs during the service life.

Autonomous Repair in Cementitous Material by Combination of  Superabsorbent Polymers and Polypropylene Fibres: A Step Towards Sustainable  Infrastructure