Inspired by a character of the popular hero-flick, "X-men," scientists have recently developed a Wolverine-like self-healing material. The said material reportedly can display high stretch ability which can make a robot literally heal itself in just a short period of time.
A research has been conducted by a team of scientists of the University of California and University of Colorado which reports say resulted to a positive result of coming up with a self-healing material. The transparent, rubber-like and highly stretchable material is reportedly capable of allowing an artificial muscle to restore its unwound state. As it can stretch to up to 50 times more than its initial length, the material is claimed by its discoverers able to self-heal from a scissor cut within 24 hours under a room temperature condition.
According to the research published by Advanced Materials, the material can stretch to a length twice its original measurement in just five minutes. It was also revealed that the material is a good conductor of electricity through its ions. The researchers claim that the said material is the first in the history to combine a self-healing property with an ionic conductor.
As noted by the University of California Riverside publication, the researchers are still starting to explore the possible applications of the concept, but are sure that it can be used in electronic devices, robotics, biosensors and batteries. Chao Wang, one of the researchers, said that his interest on Wolverine's abilities sparked his desire to create a Wolverine-like self-healing material. Though the material is not intended for human, the concept is initialized to prolong the lifetime of man-made devices and materials.
As per report, the researchers combined two layers of new material inserted with a transparent membrane between them. The arrangement of the materials are said to create an artificial muscle which can move to electrical signals. This innovative Wolverine-like self-healing material is expected by the scientists to make up the next-generation of electronic devices and the robots.
