EVER wished you could turn back time to reverse the damage on something you’ve broken? A new material that can mend itself after being cracked goes a long way to making that dream possible.
The quest for a material that can “heal” itself has occupied scientists for some time. For instance, engineers at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign have made a polymer that can plug cracks as they form (Â鶹´«Ã½, 17 February 2001, p 23). But the healing mechanism, based on tiny capsules of embedded chemicals and catalysts that help reseal cracks, only works until those chemicals…
