Apparently Apparel
  • News Watch
  • Market Watch
  • Weather Watch
  • Quake Watch
  • Sky Watch
  • Space Watch
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Gaming
    • Meditate
    • Bill of Rights
    • Privacy Policy
  • Free Energy
  • ZOAT
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Upload News

Apparently Apparel
News Watch

The Healing Power of Light

1/25/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Microcapsules in a Self-Healing Polymer
(Technologyreview.com) A polymer that mends itself could lead to medical implants or engine parts that fix themselves.

A new polymer material that can repeatedly heal itself at room temperature when exposed to ultraviolet light presents the tantalizing possibility of products that can repair themselves when damaged. Possibilities include self-healing medical implants, cars, or even airplane parts.

The polymer, created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Kyushu University, heals when a crack in the material is pressed together and exposed to UV light. The same treatment can cause separate chunks of the material to fuse together to form one solid piece.

The researchers were able to cut the same block into pieces and put them back together at least five times. With further refinement, the material could mend itself many more times, says CMU chemistry professor Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, who led the research team.

Picture
No glue required: Broken polymer chains reform to repair a crack in this material when it is pressed together and exposed to UV light
Currently, the polymer can only repair itself in an oxygen-free environment, so the researchers had to carry out the UV treatment in the presence of pure nitrogen. But they hope to develop polymers that heal under visible light and don't require nitrogen, which should open up many practical applications, including products and components that heal after suffering minor damage. Such a material, Matyjaszewski says, "would be a dramatic improvement over what we've already done."

Self-healing materials have been made before, mainly polymers and composites. But most of those have relied on tiny capsules that are filled with a healing agent. When the polymer cracks, the capsules break open and release the healing agent, which becomes polymer solid and seals the crack and restores the material's properties. But once the capsules are depleted, the material can no longer mend itself.

The new polymer relies on carbon-sulfur bonds within the material. "There are thousands of chemical bonds here, and even if you lose a small percent, one can think about potentially repeating the healing a hundred times," Matyjaszewski says.

The researchers found that even shredded bits of the polymer will join together to form a continuous piece when irradiated with UV light. This implies that the material could also be easy to recycle. The researchers presented the details of their experiments in a paper published online in Angewandte Chemie.

Some research groups, including Matyjaszewski's, have made polymers that heal when exposed to heat or certain chemicals. But Michael Kessler, a materials science and engineering professor at Iowa State University, says light healing is a superior option. "I think that UV stimulus is particularly appealing as an external stimulus because it's noncontact, it happens at room temperature, it's pretty easy to acquire and handle, and, importantly, it's limited to target areas where the damage occurs," Kessler says.

Kessler adds, however, that the new material suffers from two of the main drawbacks faced by other self-healing materials: it requires pressure, and the repair process takes hours.

Nonetheless, some self-healing materials are on their way to commercialization. Autonomic Materials in Champaign, Illinois, is readying corrosion- and scratch-resistant coatings containing microcapsules developed by Scott White, a professor at the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

White's colleague Nancy Sottos  has made materials that mimic human skin and that heal themselves using underlying channels filled with healing agents. Sottos envisions the materials being used for structural applications such as airplane parts, car and spacecraft components, and for everyday products such as cell-phone and laptop cases.

UV-triggered healing won't be suitable for all applications, says Sottos. That's because the restructuring of carbon-sulfur bonds that allows the material to heal also requires that material to be rubbery and soft.

"You can make materials that are harder or softer," says Matyjaszewski. "Every self-healing material is somehow unique and has advantages over the other ones. It depends on the properties and area of application."

Original Article: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/27113/
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    News Watch

    Mind-opening news articles, editorials, videos & apparel that inspire our readers and help liberate them from the status quo. Stay informed.

    Email address:


    Write For Us

    Guest Writers/Bloggers Wanted
    Reach 1000's of readers daily!
    Picture
    Picture
    You are not a product!

    Space Watch


    Picture

    Top News


    News Watch Categories

    All
    2011
    2012
    2013
    2014
    2015
    2017
    2018
    2019
    2020
    2021
    2022
    2023
    5D
    5G
    Alaska
    Alchemy
    Alcohol
    Alex Jones
    Aliens
    Allison Jornlin
    Alternative
    American Ghost Walks
    Ancient Aliens
    Animals
    Anonymous
    Anthony Fauci
    Anti Gravity
    Apophis
    Apparel
    Apple
    Archaeology
    Architecture
    Artificial Intelligence
    Atlantis
    Beauty Products
    Bermuda Triangle
    Big Tech
    Bio Warfare
    Bio-warfare
    Breaking News
    Business
    California
    Cambridge Analytica
    Cannabis
    Celebrities
    CES
    Chakras
    ChatGPT
    Chemtrails
    China
    Climate
    Comedy
    Community
    Consciousness
    Conspiracy
    Constitution
    Coronavirus
    Cover Ups
    COVID 19
    Daily News
    Damon T. Berry
    Dane Wigington
    Data Privacy
    Deep State
    Died Suddenly
    Disclosure
    Diy
    Dna
    Documentary
    Drkstrong
    Drones
    Dutchsinse
    Earth Changes
    Earthquakes
    Economy
    Egypt
    Election
    Elon Musk
    Emerdata
    Energy
    Engineering
    Environmental
    ESA
    Ets
    Exclusive
    Exopolitics
    Exposed
    Facebook
    Fluoride
    Food & Dining
    Fracking
    Fraud
    Free Energy
    Frequency Levels
    Fusion
    Futuristic News
    Gadgets
    Gematria
    Geoengineering
    Germany
    Global Alert News
    Government
    Gray State
    Great Reset
    Guest Contributors
    Hawaii
    Health
    History
    Home Improvement
    Hot Headlines
    Human Interest
    Human Origins
    Illuminati
    Industry
    Inspiration
    Interesting
    ISV Columbus
    Jesus Christ
    John Rappoport
    John Searl
    Just For Laughs
    Lemuria
    Life
    Life And Health
    Mark Dice
    Market Research
    Mark Zuckerberg
    Mars
    Meta Tech
    Mike Huberty
    Military
    Music
    Mystery
    NASA
    Native American
    Natural Disasters
    Natural News
    Nature
    New Years
    Nullification
    Nursing
    Obama
    Olera Naturkosmetik
    Operation Mockingbird
    Operation Paperclip
    Opinion
    Orwellian
    Paracress
    Paranormal
    PDFs
    Physics
    Planet Earth
    Pole Shift
    Police State
    Preparedness
    Project Redsun
    Propaganda
    Pyramids
    Q
    Quarantine
    Russia
    Sacred Geometry
    Samsung
    Science
    Sex
    Situation Update
    Social Credit
    Solar Activity
    Solar Warden
    Space
    Space Force
    Spiritual
    Spiro 1
    Stonehenge
    Strange Places
    Sun Of God
    Surfing
    SuspiciousObservers
    Sustainable
    Syria
    Technology
    Tesla
    Thebarcaroller
    The Truth
    The Why Files
    Transhumanism
    Trump
    TruthGPT
    Truthstream Media
    Ufo
    Ukraine
    Unexplained
    Urgent News
    Us Economy
    Us News
    Viral Videos
    Volcano
    Water 4.0
    Weather
    Whistleblowers
    World
    World Economic Forum
    World News
    WW3
    Yoga
    Zeitgeist

Picture
HAVE A TIP OR STORY TO TELL?  JOIN TODAY & SHARE YOUR STORY!
If you have a breaking news tip or idea, please email: [email protected]
Apparently Apparel® is a registered trade name and part of the ZOAT International® brands network. © 2007-2023. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy.  All art & news content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. ApparentlyApparel.com is not responsible for content written by contributing artists, authors or news feeds. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. ApparentlyApparel.com assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material.
  • News Watch
  • Market Watch
  • Weather Watch
  • Quake Watch
  • Sky Watch
  • Space Watch
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Gaming
    • Meditate
    • Bill of Rights
    • Privacy Policy
  • Free Energy
  • ZOAT
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Upload News