Future trends of self healing materials and structural health monitoring

system.
SHM is a new concept whose time has now come, as the required technology is available to
take the first steps.
The healing efficiency is of 91%, and even though it is expected to be improved, the fact that
damage could heal itself at room temperature without an external stimuli still has great
potential.

 Biomaterials and biomimetics growing in importance.

N-tech believes that reversible polymers will continue to have the largest share of the self-
healing market with 37 % of the market by 2022. Also, reversible polymers will probably grow
in terms of types and self-healing mechanisms. For example, a team at Harvard has recently
patented a new kind of self-healing rubber. Rather than cracking when a lot of force is applied,
this material will return to its original form when the stress is released.

 Performance is more in sync with applications needs

Another meta-trend worth noting is that the performance of self-healing materials is getting
better. More specifically, self-healing materials are increasingly in sync with real world
applications needs, although as n-tech sees things they still have way to go in this regard:

The automotive sector already uses self-healing aftermarket coatings but has begun to sample
much higher performing self-healing materials that can comply with the industry’s demanding
coatings requirements. The rapidly growing use of relatively fragile composites in the
automotive sector is a strong driver for the development of self-healing composites. And we
are seeing a transition from user applied low-performance self-healing coatings to
professionally applied higher-performing self-healing coatings, such as FeynLab Heal Plus.

 The rise of self-healing concrete

O-tech believes that self-healing concrete may turn out to be – in a sense – the killer app for
self-healing technology. First, it is relatively easy to build a case for self-healing concrete,
when one considers the vast amounts of money that is spent of repairing concrete. Self-healing
concrete would also prevent sending engineers into precarious situations on bridges, roads and
skyscrapers to search for cracks.  And if next-generation self-healing concrete turn out to be
a success it should do much to enhance recognition of self-healing technology as a whole and
give it a much-needed boost.Although self-healing concrete is only at an early stage of
development, it is well suited to current self-healing technology, because fixing the smallest
cracks is what is needed here. Typically, the construction industry believes that the smallest
cracks can lead to the biggest problems in the long run – and it is typical for small cracks to
form in concrete after just three years.

Structural health monitoring system.

The global structural health monitoring market size was valued at $1,674.0 million in 2019 and
is projected to reach $3,815.1 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of 14.5% from 2020 to 2027.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the global structural health monitoring market
mainly due to the halt in international trade, prolonged lockdowns, and hindrances in
construction and maintenance activities, globally.

Structural health monitoring for civil structures is gaining popularity globally in the field of
construction management and maintenance

Further, high focus of the governments of different countries toward development and adoption
of latest technologies is a major driving factor for the growth in implementation of structural
health monitoring systems.