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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

An adaptive material invented at Rice University combines self-healing and reversible self-stiffening properties [sciencedaily.com].

The Rice material called SAC (for self-adaptive composite) consists of what amounts to sticky, micron-scale rubber balls that form a solid matrix. The researchers made SAC by mixing two polymers and a solvent that evaporates when heated, leaving a porous mass of gooey spheres. When cracked, the matrix quickly heals, over and over. And like a sponge, it returns to its original form after compression.

The labs of Rice materials scientists Pulickel Ajayan and Jun Lou led the study that appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. They suggested SAC may be a useful biocompatible material for tissue engineering or a lightweight, defect-tolerant structural component.

Other "self-healing" materials encapsulate liquid in solid shells that leak their healing contents when cracked. "Those are very cool, but we wanted to introduce more flexibility," said Pei Dong, a postdoctoral researcher who co-led the study with Rice graduate student Alin Cristian Chipara. "We wanted a biomimetic material that could change itself, or its inner structure, to adapt to external stimulation and thought introducing more liquid would be a way. But we wanted the liquid to be stable instead of flowing everywhere."

In SAC, tiny spheres of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) encapsulate much of the liquid. The viscous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) further coats the entire surface. The spheres are extremely resilient, Lou said, as their thin shells deform easily. Their liquid contents enhance their viscoelasticity, a measure of their ability to absorb the strain and return to their original state, while the coatings keep the spheres together. The spheres also have the freedom to slide past each other when compressed, but remain attached.

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