Posted by Mike on December 7th, 2007 in material

Now here is better living through chemistry. Mix microencapsulated solvent, and microencapsulated unreacted epoxy into a composite matrix. Then, once the matrix is later cracked or broken through some type of abuse, the solvent capsules will open and mix with the unreacted epoxy, healing the crack. In other words, a self healing material that could survive much longer in the harsh climate that is everyday human use. The application will no doubt have widespread applications- think of all of the things that are made from composites today, and how much more attractive composites will become as this technology progresses.

Think of a self healing bumper, or a self healing Corvette. This is one of those cool concepts that you wonder how they stumbled on to it. Was it the microencapsulation technology; was it the catalyst initially? Something had to fall into place to give these researchers the big “Ahhh Ha!”. In most cases, it is a new piece of unrelated technology that triggers the combination. I’m betting on the microencapsulation.

http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/07/1127selfheal.html

Technorati : materials, microencapsulation, self-healing