Communications of the ACM
Circuit, Heal Thyself!
Circuits created with the material are electromechanically stable and exhibit resilience to mechanical damage.
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University
A self-healing material that spontaneously repairs itself under extreme mechanical damage has been developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers. The new composite material is composed of liquid metal droplets suspended in a soft elastomer. When the material is damaged, the droplets rupture to cohere into new connections with neighboring droplets and reroute electrical signals without interruptions.
Circuits produced with conductive residues of the new material remain fully and continuously operational when severed or punctured, and when they have had material removed, the researchers found.
"Other research in soft electronics has resulted in materials that are elastic and deformable, but still vulnerable to mechanical damage that causes immediate electrical failure," says CMU's Carmel Majidi.
From Carnegie Mellon University
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2018 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found