Mini-essay about Self-healing materials

Self-healing materials are substances which are artificially or synthetically created and
have the ability to “regenerate” or to repair themselves without any human action. These kinds
of materials are the perfect solution for preventing wearing or rupture of the material.
The most popular self-healing materials are polymers. Polymers are substances whose
molecules joined together, formed big macromolecules composed of many repeating units. In
the past century, polymers have become used almost everywhere. Products such as plastic
bags, rubber or paint are all polymers. Most materials don’t last forever, their end usually
comes from aging, physical wear or damage, therefore self-healing materials provide a
promising alternative that would extend the lifetime of materials used in our daily life, in
construction or other domains where product longevity is important. Self-healing in polymers is
usually described in 3 stages: The reaction after the damage, which is usually instant, the
transportation of materials to the damaged area, also close to instant and lastly the healing
process. This process differs from substance to substance. Some of the most popular self-
healing processes are: polymerization (producing polymer chains by joining monomer
molecules), entanglement (a complicated term from quantum mechanics) and the so-called
reversible cross-linking, this method involves heating up the material, which breaks it into
monomers and after cooling it down, the substance goes back to the original polymer.
Therefore, if you fire a bullet at a reversible cross-linking material, the heat energy produced
from the impact will be so high, that the polymer will self-heal on the spot, creating the illusion
that the bullet phased through the material with no visible damage. It has been proven that
some ceramics also possess self-healing abilities. Substances such as Titanium Aluminium
Carbide (Ti3AlC2) and Cromium Aluminium Carbide (Cr2AlC) have been able to heal their micro-
cracks at high temperatures (1200C) with exposure to air. Iron-based compounds have also
been proven to heal micro-cracks with the help of gold atoms.
In conclusion, self-healing materials are the future of our safety. There are many fields
in which self-healing would offer extra security. While this technology is relatively new, most
projects are small-scaled, but who knows what the future of regenerating materials promises
us.