Now, in the Journal of Applied Physics, researchers at Arizona State University have created a material that may be able to not only sense damage in structural materials, such as cracking in a fiber-reinforced composite, but to even heal it. The aim of developing "autonomous adaptive structures" is to mimic the ability of biological systems such as bone to sense the presence of damage, halt its progression, and regenerate itself.
The novel autonomous material developed by Henry Sodano and colleagues uses "shape-memory" polymers with an embedded fiber-optic network that functions as both the damage detection sensor and thermal stimulus delivery system to produce a response that mimics the advanced sensory and healing traits shown in biological systems. An infrared laser transmits light through the fiber-optic system to locally heat the material, stimulating the toughening and healing mechanisms.
The material system is capable of increasing the toughness of a specimen by 11 times. After toughening the specimen, the crack can be closed using the shape-memory effect to recover an unprecedented 96 percent of the object's original strength. In fact, after the crack is closed, the new material is nearly five times as tough as the original specimen, even though it has been strained past its original failure strain point by a factor of four. The material and healing process can be applied while the structure is in operation, which has not been possible with existing healing techniques.
From AIP - Journal of Applied Physics: "Biological systems exhibit many advanced sensory and healing traits that can be applied to the design of modern material systems. The foremost goal for the development of future adaptive structures is to provide materials capable of autonomously adapting in order to impede damage progression and, subsequently, heal the damaged region. Here, a novel autonomous material system is devised using shape memory polymers (SMPs), which employ a fiber optic network, functioning both as a damage detection sensor and thermal stimulus delivery system. This system mimics the advanced sensory system as well as toughening and healing mechanisms found in human bones. By incorporating both methods into this material, the resulting autonomous system is able to increase toughness by 11 times over the original material. In addition to toughening, the shape memory effect can be used to close the crack and upon reloading of the toughened SMP specimen to failure, the system demonstrates a 96% strength recovery of the virgin strength. Following crack closure the new material system has 4.9 times more toughness than the un-toughened specimen even through it has been strained four times past its virgin failure strain."
From Unknown Country: "An extraordinary metal was found among the debris that came from the UFO that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in July of 1947--It was so thin, you could bend it and it would spring back into its original shape, but so touch that a bullet couldn't be fired through it. Now we're close to making the same thing ourselves!
Researchers have created a material that may be able to not only sense damage but to even heal it, mimicking the ability of biological systems such as bone to sense the presence of damage, halt its progression, and regenerate itself. The material system is capable of increasing the toughness of a specimen by 11 times. After toughening the specimen, the crack can be closed using the shape-memory effect to recover an unprecedented 96% of the object's original strength. In fact, after the crack is closed, the new material is nearly five times as tough as the original specimen."
NOTE: I've previously posted information on Nitinol "memory metal" and the recovered Roswell material (Reports On Memory-Metal Nitinol 'Missing' and USAF Documents Confirm Roswell Crash Debris Examined), though this seems to be a much different compound...Lon
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