Polymer gel, heal thyself: Engineering team proposes new composites that can regenerate when damaged

When a chair leg breaks or a cell phone shatters, either must be repaired or replaced. But what if these materials could be programmed to regenerate — themselves, replenishing the damaged or missing components, and thereby extend their lifetime and reduce the need for costly repairs?

That potential is now possible according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, who have developed computational models to design a new polymer gel that would enable complex materials to regenerate themselves — via redwolf.newsvine.com