Self-healing – the latest fad?
According to a new research report, “recent advances and ongoing improvements will help rapid and low-cost development of smart materials, and the next wave of innovation will be in self-healing coatings and parts”. When it comes to smart coatings, the current focus is set on self-healing, the report claims. Follow this links to learn more about it:
Not only coatings, but also construction chemicals are an interesting field for self-healing applications. So I learned that “a new self-healing concrete aims to reduce the requirement for maintenance of structures over the long term by slowing down the effects of deterioration due to ageing or damage”: http://www.european-coatings.com/Raw-materials-technologies/Applications/Self-healing-concrete-slows-down-effects-of-deterioration
Generally speaking, self-healing concrete has been given a lot of attention, as researchers seem to anticipate great improvements regarding durability and sustainable infrastructures.
I became curious, and I wanted to know whether this assessment corresponds with the delegates’ survey conducted at the end of the European Coatings Conference “Functional Coatings” in May 2014. And yes, it does: when asked which coating relevant topics were highly interesting for them and their projects, self-healing came right after easy-to-clean coatings.
Now I would like to hear from you, too: are self-healing materials the latest fad?
