The power of healing: damaged rubber repairs itself

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

PARIS, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) — French chemists on Wednesday announced they had created rubber that heals itself after it has been cut, a breakthrough that could lead to clothes that self-mend if torn and toys that repair themselves if damaged by a tot.

The molecular concoction -- described by other scientists as having "a touch of magic about it" -- can self-heal at room temperature in around 15 minutes by simply pressing the damaged pieces together, they report in the British weekly science journal Nature.

Conventional rubber typically comprises long, cross-linked chains of polymers that can stretch and then recover to their original size and shape.

The new formula made by a team at France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a private firm,...