Researchers created self-healing plastic material.

   Researchers created self-healing plastic material.

 

Plastics are full of lipids. The lipid molecule group looks like a little bit of a zipper. The lipid molecule can act like a zipper. Its other side can pulled separately from the other. And then those sides can reconnect. That ability makes the lipids able to create self-healing materials. Both sides of lipid molecules are connected by structures that look like tweezers. And nano-systems can use single lipid molecules as miniaturized tweezers in nanotechnology. However large groups of those molecules can be used as materials that can self-heal themselves. 

And the structure of those molecules makes it possible to create a plastic layer that can heal itself. And now researchers made that self-healing ability true. The new self-healing plastic can fundametalize many things like underwater crafts and protective gear. Self-healing plastic also can used to create clothes that fix themselves. But those kinds of materials also can used to create things like microchips and electric circuits that can self-assemble. 

"University of Tokyo researchers have developed a versatile new plastic called VPR, which is stronger, more stretchable, and self-healing through heat compared to traditional plastics. It can be reshaped at high temperatures and partially biodegrades in seawater. This innovative material could revolutionize resource recirculation and waste reduction in various industries, contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. It offers enhanced durability, faster shape recovery, and efficient chemical recycling, and the team is exploring practical applications in engineering, manufacturing, medicine, and fashion. (Artist’s concept)". (ScitechDaily.com/Scientists Develop Stronger, Stretchier, Self-Healing Plastic)

"Green marks the spot where a fissure formed, then fused back together in this artistic rendering of nanoscale self-healing in metal, discovered at Sandia National Laboratories. Red arrows indicate the direction of the pulling force that unexpectedly triggered the phenomenon. Credit: Dan Thompson, Sandia National Laboratories" (ScitechDaily.com/Not Science Fiction: Scientists Around the World Shocked by Self-Healing in Metal)

"VPR: A stronger, stretchier, self-healing plastic" (Phys.org/VPR: A stronger, stretchier, self-healing plastic)

Above) Lipid molecule. Note the tweezer-looking structure. That keeps tewo layers of that molecule as one entirety. 

The idea is that. The assembler loads microchips and electric wires on the self-healing plastic. And then that plastic can make those microcircuits less vulnerable than they are without the self-healing plastic. Researchers can use that material to fix it. Or assemble new components on microcircuits. But those materials can make many previously impossible things possible. Self-healing materials can be used in spacecraft and aircraft to fix damages that those systems can get. 

If the aircraft's outer shell is made of this magic material it can make the aircraft safer than ever before. This material can also cover things like submarines and ships. There are no limits to the use of that kind of material. And those new nanomaterials can be used in every product, where materials that can fix themselves. 

Researchers can connect that self-healing plastic with self-healing metals. The outer layer could made of self-healing plastic, and the inner layer can contain self-healing metal. And that kind of composite material can turn into a very flexible combination. There could be multiple useful points for those materials. And one of them is the bullet-proof vests and armored vehicles. But they can be useful also in everyday tools like eyeglasses and other things. 

https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/analysis-of-lipid-nanoparticles

https://phys.org/news/2023-11-vpr-stronger-stretchier-self-healing-plastic.html

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-develop-stronger-stretchier-self-healing-plastic/

https://scitechdaily.com/not-science-fiction-scientists-around-the-world-shocked-by-self-healing-in-metal/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid