Self Healing Plastics essays

Self Healing Plastics essays In June of 2001, the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research and researchers at the University of Illinois (UI) at Urbana-Champaign, funded by a UI Critical Research Initiatives grant, reported significant progress in the development of a self-healing plastic. AFOSRs Aerospace Materials Science Directorate was the first major funding agency to step forward and award the UI research team a three-year grant in 1999. Without this grant, could not have assembled the required number of people needed to work on this project. This breakthrough substance consists of a microencapsulated healing agent and a special catalyst that are embedded in a structural matrix. The material was designed to increase the reliability and longevity of thermosetting polymers used in applications ranging from microelectronics to aerospace. This new material was inspired by biological systems in which damage triggers an automatic healing process. This new material is being designed to heal itself whenever cracked or broken. The initial results were published in the journal Nature 1 and received extensive national media coverage. The upside to this research for the Air Force is based upon the fact that there are many polymer based composites in aircraft, and they frequently experience structural damage in the form of micro cracks. The cracks are very hard to detect because they form deep within the aircraft and are almost impossible to repair. Therefore with this potential new material the repair process becomes transparent since it begins as soon as a micro crack forms. The hopeful end result is lengthened service life for many new and old aircraft, as well as spacecraft. Usually once a crack has formed inside of a typical polymeric material the structural integrity is greatly reduced. However in this new material once a crack forms, the microcapsules in the structural matrix rupture, and instantly release ...