background preloader

SELF-HEALING MATERIALS

Facebook Twitter

Self-correcting crystal may lead to the next generation of advanced communications. High magnification image of the new tunable dielectric material, taken with Cornell’s scanning transmission electron microscope. The atomic structure resembles a brick wall in which the horizontal and vertical lines, the “mortar,” are believed key to the performance of the material. (Credit: Ye Zhu/Muller group) A five-year, multidisciplinary collaborative research effort based at Cornell has resulted in the world’s best material for tunable capacitors — broadly called a tunable dielectric, a special insulator whose ability to store electrical charge changes when a voltage is applied. “This is a radically different material compared to what people have been using for decades,” said Darrell Schlom, the Herbert Fisk Johnson Professor of Industrial Chemistry at Cornell, who led the international team.

“What we have discovered is the world’s lowest-loss tunable dielectric.” The scientific achievement is twofold. A ‘forgiving’ thin film The Cornell thin film could be the answer. A Video About Self Healing Materials. Safer, Self-Healing Concrete. Safer, Self-Healing Concrete. Real World: Self Healing Materials. Bio-concrete. Autonomic healing of polymer composites : Article : Nature. Nature 409, 794-797 (15 February 2001) | doi:10.1038/35057232; Received 15 August 2000; Accepted 12 December 2000 S. R. White1, N. R. Sottos2, P. Top of page Abstract Structural polymers are susceptible to damage in the form of cracks, which form deep within the structure where detection is difficult and repair is almost impossible. Figure 1 illustrates our autonomic healing concept.

Figure 1: The autonomic healing concept. A microencapsulated healing agent is embedded in a structural composite matrix containing a catalyst capable of polymerizing the healing agent. a, Cracks form in the matrix wherever damage occurs; b, the crack ruptures the microcapsules, releasing the healing agent into the crack plane through capillary action; c, the healing agent contacts the catalyst, triggering polymerization that bonds the crack faces closed. High resolution image and legend (80K) We began by analysing the effects of microcapsule geometry and properties on the mechanical triggering process. Methods.