Ahmed Anansa S, Ramanujan R V
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 639798, Singapore.
Sci Rep. 2015 Sep 8;5:13773. doi: 10.1038/srep13773.
Multifunctional materials inspired by biological structures have attracted great interest, e.g. for wearable/ flexible "skin" and smart coatings. A current challenge in this area is to develop an artificial material which mimics biological skin by simultaneously displaying color change on damage as well as self healing of the damaged region. Here we report, for the first time, the development of a damage sensing and self healing magnet-polymer composite (Magpol), which actively responds to an external magnetic field. We incorporated reversible sensing using mechanochromic molecules in a shape memory thermoplastic matrix. Exposure to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) triggers shape recovery and facilitates damage repair. Magpol exhibited a linear strain response upto 150% strain and complete recovery after healing. We have demonstrated the use of this concept in a reusable biomedical device i.e., coated guidewires. Our findings offer a new synergistic method to bestow multifunctionality for applications ranging from medical device coatings to adaptive wing structures.
受生物结构启发的多功能材料引起了人们极大的兴趣，例如用于可穿戴/柔性“皮肤”和智能涂层。该领域当前面临的一个挑战是开发一种人造材料，该材料通过在受损时同时显示颜色变化以及受损区域的自我修复来模仿生物皮肤。在此，我们首次报告了一种损伤传感和自我修复的磁聚合物复合材料（Magpol）的开发，该材料能对外部磁场做出积极响应。我们在形状记忆热塑性基质中纳入了使用机械变色分子的可逆传感。暴露于交变磁场（AMF）会触发形状恢复并促进损伤修复。Magpol在高达150%的应变下表现出线性应变响应，修复后能完全恢复。我们已经在一种可重复使用的生物医学装置即涂层导丝中展示了这一概念的应用。我们的研究结果提供了一种新的协同方法，可为从医疗器械涂层到自适应机翼结构等各种应用赋予多功能性。
