Self healing paint developed at the University of Illinois covers its own scratches with no external intervention, according to a story in the MIT Technology Review. It has the ability to protect cars, bridges, and ships from corrosion.
Self healing paint covers its own scratches with no external intervention.
The self-healing elements, enclosed in mirocapsules that rip open when the coating is scratched, are compatible with a wide range of paints and protective coatings. Because the capsules, made of polyurethane, keep the reactive chemicals inside isolated, they can be mixed into a wide range of coatings.
When the coatings are scratched, the microcapsules are torn open and their contents flow into the crack and form siloxane, a polymer. The Illinois coatings don’t require elevated temperarures or moisture to mend, unlike other self-healing systems.
The developers, Paul Braun and Scott White, are both professors in the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The coatings are made up of cheap, readily available chemicals. The first target markets include industries in which performance is key, such as ships, oil rigs, and pipelines, where metals are exposed to harsh environments and taking rusting systems offline for frequent repainting is costly.