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Carbon fibre–reinforced composites (CFRCs) are increasingly used in aeroplanes, satellites and offshore wind turbines. Access those systems for repair when the material is damaged may be difficult. Researchers have incorporated vascular systems containing healing agents into CFRCs, enabling them automatically to recover from delamination and debonding. However, self-recovery of the structural fibres that give CFRCs their exceptional mechanical properties is still impossible. This paper describes a method to make CFRCs self-heal following structural fibres’ damage. This involves automatically delivering epoxy-based healing agents containing short carbon fibres (SCFs) to cracks through an embedded vascular system. Cracks are created by disk-cutting through the carbon fibre layer of CFRC specimens. The SCFs in the released healing agents can be aligned in a local electric field produced by applying a …