Break a toe and your body will slowly fuse the bones back together; scrape your knee and your skin will eventually heal itself. The same, however, cannot be said for the man-made materials that we use to build bridges, aircraft and skyscrapers. Once snapped, cracked or bent, materials such as plastic, steel, and concrete are difficult – or impossible – to repair.
But that could soon change. Material scientists are now actively borrowing nature's capacity for regeneration and repair in an attempt to create materials that heal themselves.
Over the years, engineers have tackled the problem using a variety of strategies. But Nancy Sottos, an engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been developing a novel approach that borrows from human physiology. Inspired by human skin, Sottos creates plastics that “bleed” when cut and can heal themselves over and over again. Her work is paving the way for new materials that can respond and react to all sorts of environmental stresses. At a mundane level, this could cut down on costly maintenance and inspections, but perhaps more importantly it could also help prevent catastrophic – and potentially deadly - failures.
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