New self-healing plastic could make cracked phones a thing of the past
If you are like me, you would have broken the screens of many a phone or smart device. We know all too well the frustration that comes of buying a shiny new gadget, only to see it smashed to a thousand pieces soon after.
But a new family of plastics will offer insurance against these disasters, through unique properties that allow them to be reformed after being broken apart. Just add heat and a chemical catalyst, and watch the damage melt away.
No, it’s not magic – it’s science.
These new plastics are called vitrimers and were created by scientist Ludwik Liebler. They have even earned him the 2015 Inventor Award from the European Patent Office.
Vitrimers combine two existing families of plastics. Thermoplastics are malleable when heated but become fixed in a solid shape when cooled, and cannot be reformed. Thermosets are rigid and retain their form even when heated. Vitrimers marry the two worlds: they retain their form when heated, but can be reformed infinite times.
Said Liebler, who was inspired by the shape-shifting ways of the T-1000 in the movie ‘Terminator 2’,
“We think that the first applications will be in transport, in cars, in planes, in all the applications you have that need toughness, for repair and increasing durability of your objects.”
Click here to read about another invention.
With research still going on, it is not clear when products using vitrimer will hit the shelves. But in time users will be able to either heat their devices back to health, or healing will occur automatically.
Until then, you may want to buy a cover to protect your new phone instead!
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay under Creative Commons licence)
