Keywords @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Polymerization Quarterly, 2015 W hen damages occur in conventional materials, the human intervention would be required to analyze each damage and repair or replace parts of a system involved. In contrast, the spontaneous detection and healing of the damages are two unique properties of biological systems such as blood clotting, healing of fractured bone, and restoring a damaged tissue. In imitating the unique features of nature which are inspired by biological

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... es, researchers have attempted to develop self-healing properties of the smart materials. Smart materials, with the feasibility potential to reduce costs in addition to curtail the human interaction, less damage and reducing replacement of the parts in the system, are able to diagnose and treat injuries accordingly. Unlike the conventional self-healing materials which bear microspheres or tubes containing a healing agent and that they repair a damage through the chemical means and they would unlikely heal a macroscopic and energetic damage such as ballistic puncture or fracture, self-healing ionomers are able to heal a damaged site in a short period of time and will likely lead to a minimum cost. In fact, the ionomer self-healing property is inherent in material response rather than attributed by design; suggesting a very different healing mechanism. It occurs without any mediation and instantaneously without manual intervention-indeed it is an autonomic self-healing process. This paper provides a review of the work on self-healing ionomers, the mechanism behind this ability, and the methods used to explain this unique response, including ballistic and other techniques.