What Are Self-Healing Materials?

Scientists have developed a new material that will recognize the occurrence of damage and immediately repair itself. This self-healing ability will greatly extend the life of the spacecraft.

Self-healing material

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This new type of self-healing material consists of three parts:

1. Composite materialsMost of the materials are epoxy polymer composite materials. Polymer composite materials are advanced materials and are made of carbon, glass, or Kellav fibers and resins, such as epoxy esters, vinyl esters, or ammonia. Ethyl formate.

2. Microcapsule-sealed repair agent-This is an adhesive used to repair micro-cracks formed on composite materials. A repair agent is a liquid called dicyclopentadiene or DCPD. This liquid is enclosed in capsules, filled with small blisters, which can spread to various places in the composite. Holds 6 to 12 capsules per cubic centimeter.

3. Catalyst-In order for polymerization to occur, the repair agent must be in contact with the catalyst. The catalyst has a patented product called Grubbs' catalyst , which can be used in this self-healing material. It is important that the catalyst and repair agent be separated before they can be used to bridge the cracks.

When a micro-crack is formed on a composite material, it will spread out on the surface of the material. As a result, this crack can rupture the microcapsules and release the repair agent. The repairing agent will flow along the cracks, so it will inevitably encounter the Grubb catalyst and start the polymerization process. This process eventually bonds the cracks, and the self-healing composite has been tested to recover 75% of its original strength.

The application of this self-healing material is not limited to spacecraft. Every year, nearly 20 million tons of composite materials are consumed in engineering, defense projects, offshore oil exploration, electronics and biomedicine. We will see this self-healing material in many daily necessities, including polymer composite circuit boards, artificial joints, bridge supports and tennis rackets ^[1] .