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Low‐Energy Room‐Temperature Healing of Cellular Metals
Author(s) -
Hsain Zakaria,
Pikul James H.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201905631
Subject(s) - materials science , ultimate tensile strength , composite material , metal , self healing material , polymer , electrochemistry , bone healing , coating , self healing , fracture toughness , structural material , metallurgy , electrode , medicine , chemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , biology , genetics
Healing metallic materials involves high temperatures and large energy inputs. This work demonstrates rapid, effective, low‐energy, and room‐temperature healing of metallic materials by using electrochemistry and polymer‐coated cellular nickel to mimic the transport‐mediated healing of bone. The polymer coating enables selective healing only at the fracture site, electrochemical reactions transport metal ions from a metal source to fractured areas, and the cellular structure of the metal allows facile ion transport to healing sites and effective recovery of strength and toughness when the cellular metal is subjected to three types of damage (scission fracture, tensile failure, and plastic deformation). Using this strategy, samples fractured in tension and by scission recover 100% of their tensile strength in as little as 10 and 4 h of healing. The healing process is stochastic, thus a statistical method is used to quantify and predict the likelihood of achieving target healing strengths based on energy input. This electrochemistry‐based approach enables the first demonstration of room‐temperature healing of structural metallic materials and requires several orders of magnitude less energy than many previously reported metal healing techniques.