Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Self-Healing Polymer Autonomous Material System
Everywhere you look, exposed surfaces are cracking. Asphalt streets are cracked, building facades are cracked, the paint on your house is cracked and flaking - the list is endless.
What if you could have a surface that repaired itself?
After all, you have a surface that heals itself - your skin. When you get a cut or a scratch, living cells deep in the living layers of your skin replace the old ones on the surface.
(Self-healing Polymer)
Left: Cross section of the self-healing surface showing that cracks, which initiate at the surface, propagate towards the microchannel openings at the interface (scale bar=0.5 mm). Right: Optical image of the self-healing structure after cracks are formed in the coating, revealing the presence of excess healing fluid on the coating surface (scale bar=5 mm)
A team of researchers at the University of Illinois have used a technique create a polymer-based system that heals itself. An epoxy-resin base is infused with a network of interconnected channels about 200 microns in diameter. The channels are filled with low viscosity monomeric dicyclopentadiene - the healing agent. This "vascularized" substrate has a solid epoxy layer deposited on top of it. A catalyst is incorporated in this solid coating.
When the coating layer is damaged, healing agent wicks from the channels through capillary action.
"Once in the crack plane the healing agent interacts with the catalyst particles in the coating to initiate polymerisation, rebonding the crack faces autonomically. After a sufficient time period the cracks are healed and the structural integrity of the coating restored. As cracks reopen under subsequent loading the healing cycle is repeated."
The idea of a "self-healing" surface is part of a larger set of ideas called "autonomous materials systems." The intent is to develop materials that can respond to their environment without additional attention from human beings. This idea has wide application not only here on Earth, but in space as well.
This week, a torn heat-resistant blanket must be repaired on the space shuttle Atlantis before it can return from orbit. The tiles on the shuttles also require inspection. What if it was possible for shuttles to have "skin" that repaired itself when cracked or damaged?
Researchers are busy creating futuristic materials; see also
Namib Desert Beetle-Based Moisture Collectors
MIT researchers, inspired by the beetle, have created a material that can capture and control tiny amounts of water.Shape-Shifting Polymers
See the shape-shifting polymers do their thing in the video.Arachnid Adhesion: The Sticky Feet Of Spiders
Scientists from Germany and Switzerland used a scanning electron microscope to find out how they do it - and how humans might make sticky things stickier.
There is an early direct reference to this idea in science fiction. In his 1962 story The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista, J.G. Ballard refers to a material called plastex, which allows for self-healing buildings.
See also this story on an attempt to create an earthquake-proof Nanotech Self-Healing House in Greece. Read more about the self-healing polymer. Thanks to Adi for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/13/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Material ")
Omniphobic Liquid-like Surfaces And de Camp's Telelubricator (1940)
'So the surface, to the depth of a few molecules, is put in the condition of a supercooled liquid as long as the beam is focused on it.' - L. Sprague de Camp, 1940.
MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make
'...a rolled-up sheet of a thin, dark metal strange to them.' - John Edwards, 1934.
Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
'... his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex.' - Jerry Pournelle, 1976.
MIT Self-Assembling Reprogrammable Materials
'Faster the cubes moved; faster the circle revolved; the pyramids raised themselves, stood bolt upright on their square bases...' - Abraham Merritt, 1920.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'
Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'
'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?
Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'
Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'
Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'
Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
