Self-healing plastics can be used to make phones, cars, and toys that will never have a scratch on them.
Nancy Sottos and her group at the University of Illinois are exploring ways to create self-healing materials based on the way our skin heals itself when damaged.
Tiny capsules containing a healing agent are embedded in a polymer. When the material is damaged, the capsules rupture and release the healing agent, which repairs the cracks.
Capsule systems will only heal the material a limited number of times before the agent runs out.
Embedded microvascular networks can delivery healing agents to a damaged region to enable longer lasting self-healing materials.
Even electronic circuits can be designed with healing agents to repair PCB trace cracks for greater reliability.
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