Broken shoe? This new 3D printing material repairs itself

Researchers at the University of Southern California, Viterbi School of Engineering, have developed a 3D printing material that repairs itself on its own after being fractured or punctured. These materials could be game-changing for many industries such as the shoe, tires, soft robotics and even electronics industry. In fact, the researchers aim to decrease manufacturing time whilst increasing product durability and longevity.

Trade-off between printing time and self-healing behaviour

The material is manufactured using a 3D printing method that uses photopolymerisation. In other words, it uses light to solidify a liquid resin into a desired object. Furthermore, in order to get the printed objects to self-repair, the research team had to find an optimum mix. The optimum mix was achieved by adding an oxidiser to the equation. Indeed, the oxidiser changes the behaviour of the materials; they become part of the group called disulphides.

We covered earlier that a new 3D printing technique that solidifies objects with rays of light coming from the University of California, Berkeley. This method is similar to that.