London - Unsightly chipped nail varnish could soon be a thing of the past.
Scientists have created a “self-healing” compound that can repair any cracks in its surface.
They say the technology can also be applied to damaged bicycle helmets, mobile phone screens and even aircraft wings.
The material is made by adding tiny bubbles to carbon fibre composites. The bubbles are broken by any impact, releasing a liquid healing agent that seeps into the cracks left by the damage. A catalyst then triggers a rapid chemical reaction causing the agent to harden.
A team at Bristol University has spent three years working on the invention and are planning to take it to market it “in the very near future”.
Lead researcher Professor Duncan Wass said: “In the next five or ten years we’re going to see things like mobile phone screens that can heal themselves if they crack.”
The research, presented at the Royal Society in London this week, is said to have begun “on the back of an envelope” as the team looked at ways to stop small cracks forming in aircraft wings and bicycle helmets.
Tests found the material was just as strong after “healing” as it had been before the damage.
The compound takes between a couple of hours and a day to work – with warmer temperatures accelerating the process.
Professor Wass added: “We took inspiration from the human body… if we get damaged, we bleed, and it scabs and heals. We just put that same sort of function into a synthetic material.”
Daily Mail