French Invent Self Healing Rubber

French Invent Self Healing Rubber

news.bbc.co.uk

A material that is able to self-repair even when it is sliced in two has been invented by French researchers.

The as-yet-unnamed material - a form of artificial rubber - is made from vegetable oil and a component of urine.

The substance, described in the journal Nature, produces surfaces when cut that retain a strong chemical attraction to each other.

Pieces of the material join together again as if never parted without the need for glue or a special treatment.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The French may have finally invented something worth while.

I thought this was interesting.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

haha,wow, I got to admit, my first response was, "Alright, i never have to worry about the condom breaking" and especially on the drunk nights, when ur not sure if it did or didn't but its dark, and can't really tell, or just to drunk to care. . .haha. . .but really, this could be useful i guess? i can't really think of anything besides cool toys. . . like a stretch armstrong that never breaks after years and years (mine broke, i was so pissed). . .

reply to post by seawolf197


I could definately use some of that for my bicycle

reply to post by immedicated


It says it can "heal" not "never break". So sorry to burst your bubble.

Originally posted by immedicated
haha,wow, I got to admit, my first response was, "Alright, i never have to worry about the condom breaking" and especially on the drunk nights, when ur not sure if it did or didn't but its dark, and can't really tell, or just to drunk to care. . .haha. . .





Omg, dude you just made my day with that quote LMAO I needed a good laugh today.

This would be great for Aircraft tires. and gaskets, and so on but then I thought....This stuff must not be very biodegradable.I would think it would probably be very bad for the environment to make and dispose of.Would it not?

Wow!! I mean really, WOW!! This could be the one thing that replaces Velcro!! The implications for something like this are immense. I'm lovin it.

Thanks for the find!! Starred and flagged!!

TheBorg

Great, something else for us to put on the combat mechs in time for skynet to take over the place.

Originally posted by Throbber
Great, something else for us to put on the combat mechs in time for skynet to take over the place.

Hmm what r u thinking? Rubber hammers perhaps haha

reply to post by IdeaLogical


Nah, self-repairing electronics.

With a bit of hard work, i consider it forseable that this technology could be merged quite easily with fiber-optics.

p.s; this would also make skynet hardware immune to EMP blasts.



[edit on 21-2-2008 by Throbber]

reply to post by Throbber


Yeah that would be awesome, well for the robots anyway. Always thought if our cars, etc could repair themselves without the constant visits to the mechanics would save us some money! Very interesting invention though, wonder what else could be made self repairing in the future?

reply to post by IdeaLogical


I get what the other guy was talking about with the tires actually - come to think of it people would be able to go "We'll make the best damn tire we can" and not worry about the cost, because there is no maintenence problem.

This stuff could probably have some use in wetsuits and drysuits too, perhaps it could even be integrated as a under-layer in ceramic armour if we can get the stuff to meld back together fast enough.

But for that, we'd need it to be smart.

reply to post by TheBorg


I was thinking the same thing.

There are a lot of things this could be used for.

How about just a tear in a rain coat? A broken engine gasket out in the desert with no spare might come in handy.

I didn't see if there was a strength limitation either. Fan belt? Break a fan belt and just stick it back together. That could be handy.

The as-yet-unnamed material - a form of artificial rubber - is made from vegetable oil and a component of urine.


Yuck it has Urine? That is disgusting. Not sure if I would want my kids playing with a toy made of that. On the other hand we use money daily and its made from paper and human skin. Which I still am having a bad week about since I heard that. I told hubby I never want to see another dollar bill again. Now I will have to worry about maybe my kids playing with toys that contain urine? What ever happened to lead?

Hilda

reply to post by hildar


It's not actually paper and skin, but a fine cotton and linen mix. It tears like paper only because it's so thin.

Source

TheBorg