New cracks develop if a rigid polymer is used to heal a crack, as it transfers the stress to adjacent areas. Polymers with high elongation (> 100%) and modulus of elasticity much lower than 10 MPa are required for moving cracks. A polymer with high modulus of elasticity used as healing material also results in detachment from the crack walls. A burst of acoustic events including high energy emissions can be used to monitor failure if brittle fracture is present. Digital image correlation allowed precise detection of brittle failure under an increasing crack movement.