Cracked screens may be a thing of the past with this self-healing glass
A chemistry researcher at the University of Tokyo, Yu Yanagisawa has made the breakthrough by chance accidentally discovered a new type of glass that can heal itself from breaks when pressed by hand at room temperature.
The new glass can be pressed together by hand at room temperature to eliminate cracks officially known as “polyether-thioureas”, the self-healing glass doesn’t require high levels of heat to reform, unlike other similar self-repairing materials.
The discovery opens the way for super-durable glass that could triple the lifespan of everyday products like car windows, construction materials, fish tanks and even toilet seats.
Yu Yanagisawa said that I hope the repairable glass becomes a new environment-friendly material that avoids the need to be thrown away if broken.
He further said that he didn’t believe the results at first and repeated his experiments multiple times to confirm the finding and the potential benefits of his discovery.
Earlier Researchers at the University of California proposed the use of the polymer that could stretch to 50 times its original size and heal breaks within 24 hours.
Normally according to researchers, you have to heat a material to 120 degrees Celsius for it to heal and gain back its strength but new polymer glass can do the same with a little bit of manual pressure at room temperature.
Other scientists have demonstrated similar properties by using rubber or gel materials but Yanagisawa was the first to demonstrate the self-healing concept with glass.
By the discovery of this scientist hoped that it will open up new possibilities and opportunities for researchers to create more durable glass-like items and especially for those who often drop their cellphones and crack the screen.