Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology

2012 Edition
| Editors: Bharat Bhushan

Self-Repairing Materials

Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9751-4_217

Synonyms

Definition

Self-repair or self-healing is the ability of a material (usually, a composite or nanocomposite) to partially or completely repair damage, such as voids and cracks, occurring during its service lifetime [ 1, 2]. Self-repair is achieved by embedding a nano-, micro-, or multi-scale repair mechanism into the structure of the material (Fig.  1). Autonomous self-healing refers to the ability to repair damage without any external activation. Nonautonomous self-repair refers to healing mechanisms, which require external activation, such as heating the material.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. 1.
    Ghosh, S.K. (ed.): Self-Healing Materials: Fundamentals, Design Strategies, and Applications. Wiley, Weinheim (2009)Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    van der Zwaag, S. (ed.): Self Healing Materials – An Alternative Approach to 20 Centuries of Materials Science. Springer, Dordrecht (2007)Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    van der Zwaag, S.: Self-healing behaviour in man-made engineering materials: bioinspired but taking into account their intrinsic character. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 367, 1689–1704 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Nosonovsky, M., Amano, R., Lucci, J.M., Rohatgi, P.K.: Physical chemistry of self-organization and self-healing in metals. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 11, 9530–9536 (2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Nosonovsky, M.: Self-organization at the frictional interface for green tribology. Philos. Trans R. Soc. A. 368, 4755–4774 (2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Nosonovsky, M., Bhushan, B.: Thermodynamics of surface degradation, self-organization, and self-healing for biomimetic surfaces. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A367, 1607–1627 (2009)Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeMilwaukeeWIUSA