Self-Healing Materials

are a class of smart materials that have the structurally

incorporated ability to repair damage caused by mechanical usage over time. A material (polymers, ceramics, etc.) that can intrinsically correct damage caused by normal usage could lower production costs of a number of different industrial processes through longer part lifetime, education of inefficiency over time caused by degradation, as well as prevent costs incurred by material failure.

 For a material to be defined as self-healing, it is

necessary that the healing process occurs without human intervention.

2 Types:
Autonomic - without any intervention
Nonautonomic - needs human intervention/external

triggering

Self-healing polymers
Self-healing polymers follow a three-step process very similar to that of a biological response: 1. Triggering or actuation, which happens almost immediately after damage is sustained 2. Transport of materials to the effected area, which also happens very quickly 3. The chemical repair process. (differs depending on the type of healing mechanism that is in place.)

These self-healing materials can be classified in three different ways:

Capsule based polymers sequester the healing agents

in little capsules that only release the agents if they are ruptured. Vascular self-healing materials sequester the healing agent in capillary type hollow channels which can be interconnected one dimensionally, two dimensionally, or three dimensionally. Intrinsic self-healing materials do not have a sequestered healing agent but instead have a latent self-healing functionality that is triggered by damage or by an outside stimulus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =Bx3WTSSD5f0