French researchers are the proud inventors of a material that self-heals when it is cut in pieces. This material is an artifical rubber made of vegetable oil and one of urine’s component. When cut, the substance has a strong chemical attraction and the pieces rejoin without the need of glue and they look like they have never been separated.
According to the French scientistis, this material is not entirely green for the moment, but they already entered into production and they expect to improve the manufacturing process soon enough.
The material self-repairs thanks to its composition that keeps the molecules together unlike regular rubber which consists of network made of covalent links that if are broken cannot be repaired. The researchers have replaced the covalent connections with a technique similar to hydrogen bonds which are weaker and easy to be remade.
This effect was demonstrated by François Tournilhac which cut the rubber and after an hour the material self-healed and there was no evidence to show any damage. Dr. Ludwik Leibler, header of the research, made a few suggestions for the use of the rubber: one is for seals and another is for toys which are broken by kids every day and he said that it would be nice to help the children and the parents, too, because they would not have to buy so many toys.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Very cool, but not as cool as the fact that I Stumbles here, the last page I was on being
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee6/Alic14_photo/sleep3-1.jpg?t=1203859282
LOL
March 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
artificial limbs!
March 9th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Self healing rubber for toys? There must be some better ues for it than that. I just can’t think of it myself.
March 9th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I wonder if peeing on it will speed up the process of healing (since it has a component of urin in it) : - )
March 9th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Looks like now we wont be able to use the excuse that “The condom broke” or worry about our girlfriends poking holes in the condom either!
March 9th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Great invention, but are toys really the only idea he can come up with?
What about car materials? A tire that healed itself after it got a hole in it?
I’m sure this could probably used in some kind of plastic surgery, or better yet, a robot with this as a skin would almost seem real and it would heal its own damage.
Anyways I would be interested to hear other people’s ideas about what to do with healing rubber. The options must be plentiful.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:12 am
expensive rain-gear :). ever get a tear in your rain gear? you don’t have to buy any more, just let it sit for an hour (of course the inner and outer sides would have to be coated so that it wouldn’t heal together, but yeah.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:29 am
@chris kellogg,
I can imagine you have to push the pieces together , so any larger ojbect is out of the question. Do YOU want to wait an hour by the side of the road pushing on a tire while it heals itself?
March 10th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Dive skins
March 13th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Damn, I don’t last a hour.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
This is where how you phrase your title comes into play. Developing self-healing rubber is cool; developing the self-healing rubber is completely different (but much cooler). Now you’ve got people thinking about condoms instead of…well, rubber.
March 13th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
“it would be nice to help the children and the parents, too, because they would not have to buy so many toys.”
He obviously doesn’t have kids….
March 14th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Could I just get some seat covers made out of this stuff?
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
condoms?
March 24th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Big deal…the Terminator was made of liquid metal…METAL! he could heal in a matter of nanoseconds. When we get to that stage let me know.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:27 am
50 years from now with landfills full of discarded indestructible toys - skynet will have a new enemy to fight.
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I see how this could be really good for preventive bandages…or movies special effects. wouldn’t recommend as condom material, an hour to reheal and how would it perform under liquid pressure. though one of the downsides would be the ability to create a container that self heals for smuggling drugs. If it has to self heal, how durable is it in the first place.
July 4th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Excellent article, but there’s a slight grammatical mistake in it.
“Dr. Ludwik Leibler, header of the research”
Request that the writer change it to ‘head of the research’.
Cheers!
Jeff Justice