Plastic is as hard as steel and can be self-patched

Scientists have developed an intelligent composite material that can know cracks when building aircraft and repair them .

Smart composite material

This carbon fiber composite is researched and developed by Nikhill Koratkar, an engineer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Technology in Troy, New York. During the tests, the compound showed the ability to correct itself only seconds after the crack appeared.

This intelligent compound works on the principle of increasing heat and melting a special powder when a crack occurs. The warm, flowing powder will fill in the gaps and quickly harden when the temperature drops, thus maintaining at least half of the original material's hardness.

According to New Scientist science magazine published on Sunday, Koratkar's work could be used in the next generation of carbon-based trunk aircraft.

A mixture of hard plastic like steel

At the same time, scientists at the University of Michigan, US have announced the successful fabrication of a mixture of hard plastic and transparent plastic based on the combination of molecular structure of oysters and technology. nano.

With intelligent composite material, it is possible to know cracks when making aircraft and repair them . (Photo: Xinhua)

The development of new materials from nanotechnology has long confounded many scientists: individual nanoscale basic materials such as nanotubes, nano-plates and nanobacteria are all extremely powerful. But when transplanting them together, only the new metal is quite weak compared to the original. The invention of this new material has solved this problem.

This resin is made up of a layer of nano-plates and a high molecular weight based on the shell structure of the oyster, which is one of the hardest materials in nature.

Professor Nicholas Kotov, of the University of Michigan, said the fabrication process involves developing a robot to arrange the nanoscale materials. The robotic arm is supposed to hold small jars of just the size of a candy chewing gum containing liquid. These vials are immersed in a high molecular weight solution that acts as a glue and then, in a special liquid made up of nano-plates. After the mixture is dried, the process continues about 300 times to produce a plastic sheet of 1m ² .

In the above experiment, the compound that acts as an adhesive is the synthetic alcohol. This mixture makes the nano layers form hydrogen bonds. These links, if broken, can be easily reproduced without causing any cracks. At the same time the arrangement of nano plates overlap and intersect like bricks is two important things that make the material harder.

Professor Kotov said developing this new material could lead to the creation of lighter but more powerful military equipment for police and the military. It can also be applied in microelectromechanical equipment, biomedical sensors and unmanned aircraft. Currently this new technology is being improved by his partners in the field of aviation.

Bui Thanh - Platinum