Plastic That Bleeds And Heals. Exhibits Human Behavior?

A new kind of plastic demonstrated at the American Chemical Society on Monday claims to be World’s first damage reporting material; I mean such kind of plastics show signs of sickness of human when they are damaged. This new plastic will basically alleviate your pain when your favorite gadget or device hit hard to the floor.

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The new device issues a red, blood-like signal when damaged to or prone to strain and heals itself when exposed to visible light, temperature or pH change, said Professor Marek W. Urban, Ph. D of University of Southern Mississippi.

He explains that the plastic holds molecular bridges covering the polymer chains that typically constitute the plastic. When the plastic gets damaged, the interlinked polymer chains break. Urban has setup the polymer chains to reflect red color when the plastic gets damaged. Additionally, this damaged area of plastic starts to heal when exposed to visible light. To be specific, the polymer chains repair themselves and the color starts fading out to its original supplied one.

Self healing plastics are expected to revolutionize the way people use handheld devices or showpieces. Such a technology definitely proves to be fruitful when applied to the field of consumer goods, laptops and mobile devices. Further, you won’t be worried about your smartphone hitting the ground. Even if it hits, it would get well soon.

Urban looks ahead to heavy-duty applications like car fenders, aircraft components and some battlefield systems. As of now, Urban’s research is being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

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