Researchers Develop The Self-Healing Rubber

[The Straight Story]

Researchers Develop The Self-Healing Rubber
Posted By Dragos Pirvu on March 9, 2008


French researchers are the proud inventors of a material that self-heals when it is cut in pieces. This material is an artifical rubber made of vegetable oil and one of urine’s component. When cut, the substance has a strong chemical attraction and the pieces rejoin without the need of glue and they look like they have never been separated.

According to the French scientistis, this material is not entirely green for the moment, but they already entered into production and they expect to improve the manufacturing process soon enough.

The material self-repairs thanks to its composition that keeps the molecules together unlike regular rubber which consists of network made of covalent links that if are broken cannot be repaired. The researchers have replaced the covalent connections with a technique similar to hydrogen bonds which are weaker and easy to be remade.

This effect was demonstrated by François Tournilhac which cut the rubber and after an hour the material self-healed and there was no evidence to show any damage. Dr. Ludwik Leibler, header of the research, made a few suggestions for the use of the rubber: one is for seals and another is for toys which are broken by kids every day and he said that it would be nice to help the children and the parents, too, because they would not have to buy so many toys.

http://www.dosci.org/research/researchers-develop-the-self-healing-rubber/

[Clear Blue Sky]

1. Holy safe sex Batman...

[Selatius]

2. Hah, yeah, the thing he was holding does look sort of like a condom. n/t

Edited for grammar

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. Will that lower the number of

accidental babies?

[lligrd]

3. Self Healing Tires Would Be Great For The Environment nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. How long do you give it before Goodyear, Michelin etc try to buy the patent, and file it away?

[anonymeme]

5. Truly Amazing!

Your post about discovery/creation of this "miracle" substance immediately set my mind cranking on potential uses for it.

I love stuff like this.

The present so often seems to be producing actual items that were only scifi dreams of the future 50 to 100 years ago in the past.

[MilesColtrane]

6. The equivalent of closing the barn door after the cows are out.