Self-Healing Devices Can Regain Abilities After Becoming Damaged
Devices made from the self-healing material could even gain new functionality after they've been cut.
Gaining Wolverine’s self-healing properties would be beneficial for most anything beyond just human self-preservation. Imagine applying the same capability to mobile displays, airplane fuselages, and glasses, there are endless applications. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are one step closer to that reality with a new composite material that can heal itself when cut and placed back together. The material can regain full functionality, and even gain additional abilities as the cut seam eventually disappears.
Known as MWCNTs-PBS, the material is a composite of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and polyborosiloxane, which is similar to how lizard tails and starfish arms can knit themselves back together after being separated. The scientists state that since the material is self-healing, it may be possible to design sensors and devices that can be assembled and arranged like LEGO pieces depending on the application.
The team developed a proof-of-concept that demonstrates the healing properties with a soft controller that responds to touch. In its standard form, the controller can detect a simple finger press, while connecting and healing a pair of controllers lengthwise can create a keyboard or wrapped around a wrist to form a sliding-input device.
Similarly, a pneumatic actuator made from the material may bend in one direction, but when cut on turned 180-degrees can make an “S” configurated actuator. While the material is undoubtedly an impressive accomplishment, the scientists state there are limits to the ability to rearrange pieces in electrical devices, wherein the material can be reconfigured but not the electronics. That said, it is possible to design redundant circuits into those devices that can be customized to a degree.