[The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology]
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Aju News) -- South Korean researchers claimed to have developed an elastomer with self-healing characteristics that can be applied to smartphones and other products related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The state-run Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology said Wednesday that its research team has fabricated "remarkably tough and room-temperature self-healable thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers".
The self-healing high polymer can heal scratches and cuts in just a few hours. It is stretchable and shrinks back to its original shape when an external force is removed.
Researchers created the polymer created by adding a compound of sulfur to thermoplastic polyurethane structure, inducing a double decomposition (metathetical) reaction between the two substances at room temperature.
[The Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology]
The self-healing elastomer can be applied to protective films for vehicles and smartphones, the institute said in an article published through "Advanced Materials", a scientific journal.