Could plastic parts repair themselves in the future?
Spanish scientists have created the world's first self-healing polymer that can fix itself on its own without any assistance according to a press release from the royal society of chemistry. The process could eventually be applied to parts people use in everyday products, cars, and even houses
The polymer, or chemical compound made of small molecules is capable of spontaneously regenerating and healing itself after being cut into two parts.
The new invention under the direction of researcher Ibon Odriozola of CIDETEC Centre for Electrochemical Technologies is called a "terminator" polymer in honor of the T-1000 robot from the movie, "Terminator 2" movie a press release from the royal society of chemistry said.
"The fact that poly(urea-urethane)s with similar chemical composition and mechanical properties are already used in a wide range of commercial products makes this system very attractive for a fast and easy implementation in real industrial applications," authors of the royal society's Materials Horizon Journal said in a statement.
To complete the process, scientists cut the polymer's material in half using a razor blade. The pieces were then pressed together and put in room temperature conditions for two hours without any contact.
Scientists later came back to the polymer to find it had healed on its own when they extended it with their hands the release said. They returned to find the polymer had healed itself when they stretched it manually.
The polymer consists of a poly (urea-urethane) elastomeric matrix, and a network of complex molecular interactions that link with each other when they are broken apart Extreme Tech reported. When the polymer was cut in half and put in room temperature like conditions without any contact or extra reactants, the process for its healing had a 97 percent efficiency rate.
