Posted on 12/06/2023 8:00:22 PM PST by Jonty30
File this under 'That's not supposed to happen!': Scientists observed a metal healing itself, something never seen before. If this process can be fully understood and controlled, we could be at the start of a whole new era of engineering.
In a study published in July, a team from Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University was testing the resilience of the metal, using a specialized transmission electron microscope technique to pull the ends of the metal 200 times every second.
They then observed the self-healing at ultra-small scales in a 40-nanometer-thick piece of platinum suspended in a vacuum.
Cracks caused by the kind of strain described above are known as fatigue damage: repeated stress and motion that causes microscopic breaks, eventually causing machines or structures to break.
Amazingly, after about 40 minutes of observation, the crack in the platinum started to fuse back together and mend itself before starting again in a different direction.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Yes. However, now the idea is try and figure out how it can be used for new applications, which I think it’s exciting.
12. So can a can of baked beans for dinner.
17. The Borg’s cube in one of the Star Trek TV shows did that.
could revolutionize the car repair industry
Giving the metals a different atomic structure, by recrystalizing them, could result in better versions of existing metals.
It stands to reason that they would use platinum, one of the hardest metals known to conduct the experiment. If they were trying to create lots of friction at a nano level that would be the perfect one to use. It also explains how a thin piece of metal could withstand such a tremendous load of working described.
...Still interesting.
You’re not helping, making me hungry at 2:20 in the morning. Just saying.
This had me seeing Christine. The Stephen King book/movie.
Bfl
Sure it could. The only problem being the cold welding effect where rings, pistons, bearings, rods, cams, and crank.all decide to heal themselves into one solid mass. The same for electric motors, brake systems, wheel bearings and transmissions. If they can heal/cold weld themselves what’s to stop them from communicating at some nuclear level. Then we’d be in the deep stuff.
No, not for me. I’m outta here. It’s back to horse n’ buggy for me.
Combined with AI, I now view the movie franchise “Terminator” as a documentary.
This was very interesting and certainly deserves more experimentation and analysis. Even so, I’m not expecting self-healing fractures in commercial products in the near future. Fatigue fractures are almost always associated with plastic strain at the crack tip. That is, there is microscopic permanent deformation between the fracture surfaces. This means that when they are reassembled, there is not an exact mirror matching of the two surfaces. It’s reasonable to expect that surfaces must be in intimate contact in order to achieve this ‘healing’. So, even if partial healing occurs at the points of contact, the healed part will be weaker than the original since not all of the atoms, molecules, or crystals will be rejoined. It also must be warm enough that sufficient diffusion among the atoms will occur. It’s not very warm in outer space where the vacuum might be adequate.
In addition, a good percentage of fractures in the real world are associated with corrosion. This can range from reduced part thickness to stress corrosion cracking at crack tips. This also defies the ‘in a vacuum’ component of the experiment.
I am Iron Man!
You are correct. Entropy, in our physical universe, almost always wins.
I drive a 2000 Camry after research proved it to be outstandingly engineered to last, but I give it the best synthetic oil and care because 24 years of fatigue can not be denied.
Right now this self-healing metal idea remains in the realm of science fiction as far as practicality goes. Lord knows all those bridges and other support structures that have had their maintenance finds stolen over the years would benefit from advanced technology.
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