Topic：Self healing materials: a new approach to make materials perform better

Abstract: 

Material and microstructure design in man-made materials have always been focused on damage prevention, i.e., under the appropriate loading conditions crack formation should not occur. This leads to excellent properties but the consequence of this design philosophy is that any damage formed can only grow and will not disappear "spontaneously". In nature, materials are optimized according to a "damage management" philosophy, i.e., the occurrence of damage can be foreseen and a healing mechanism is built in. [1].

Recently, attempts have been made to redesign man-made materials with a self healing ability. In the presentation the concept and requirement for self healing behavior will be presented and many recent examples of current work in polymers, metals, concrete, ceramics and composites will be presented. The mechanisms used to induce self healing range from molecular mechanisms, atomic diffusion, liquid flow and even bacterial activities. The examples mainly concern experimental work but some attention will be also given to modeling of self healing behavior.

[1] S. van der Zwaag (ed). Self Healing Materials: an alternative to 20 centuries of materials science. Springer Dordrecht, the Netherlands (2007).

CV-Sybrand van der Zwaag