Scientists Develop “Self-Healing” Magnetic Ink

Lindsey Marie Round

Just like your body self-heals after you get a cut, scientists are in the midst of developing a new, innovative technology which enables fabric or devices that are printed with a special magnetic ink to “heal” themselves.[1] The magnetic ink has tiny particles of magnet embedded within it that attract to one another when there is a lesion in the fabric.[2] The latest technology allows cuts up to three millimeters long to be repaired in a mere fifty milliseconds.[3] This new technology replaces the traditional “self-healing” mechanism used in materials and fabrics known as polymerization.[4] This ink is certainly not limited to clothing, and scientists anticipate that it will have a wide diversity of uses in various different fields ranging from clothing to solar panels to medical devices.[5] In addition, an important advantage of this new technology is that is it inexpensive, which will make it marketable and practical.[6] This new application could save large amounts of time and money by allowing devices to continue to operate and be useable without the need for repair or a replacement device.

 

[1] Steph Yin, Wearable Devices That Could Heal Themselves When They Break, N.Y. Times (Nov. 2, 2016), http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/03/science/printed-electronics-self-healing.html

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.