好消息！自我修復的新型材料 碎屏能自動愈合

A new self-repairing material has been developed by researchers in the UK and they say it’ll be ready to integrate into everything from smartphone screens to nail varnish within the next five years.

英國研究員已開發(fā)一種能自我修復的新型材料，他們聲稱在未來5年內，這款材料將整合入所有的東西中——從智能手機屏幕到指甲油。

Originally developed for aeroplane wings, the technology has the potential to revolutionise a range of industries with the capacity to move into tiny cracks and harden inside like the way blood forms a dry, protective scab to heal flesh wounds.

這項科技原本是為飛機機翼打造的，但如今它擁有徹底改變一系列工業(yè)的潛能：新型材料能移至細微裂紋加固內部，就如同血液會自動形成干燥、保護性的痂來痊愈皮肉傷一樣。

Made from a mixture of different carbon-based chemicals, this new healing agent produces a sheet of millions of microscopic spheres. When a crack breaks these hollow microspheres apart, a liquid is released that moves into the newly formed gap. A chemical reaction then causes the polymerisation - or hardening - of this liquid, causing it to glue to the edges of the cracks and form a hard, near-invisible filler.

這種新型治愈體由不同碳基化工品混合而成，會生成一張由數百萬微觀球體構成的板面。當裂縫打碎了空心球體的表面，它會釋放一種液體填補到新的裂縫中去。隨后的化學反應生成聚合作用，將液體硬化，使之將裂縫邊緣沾到一起，形成幾乎看不見的堅硬填充物。

The technology has been developed by a team from England’s University of Bristol, led by chemist Duncan Wass, and was presented at a Royal Society meeting in London last month.

這項技術是由英國布里斯托爾大學化學家鄧肯·沃斯帶領下的一支小隊研發(fā)而成，上月于英國皇家學會會議上展示。

"We took inspiration from the human body," Wass told Chris Green at The Independent.

“我們從人類身體中獲得了靈感，”沃斯告訴《獨立報》的克里斯·格林。

"We’ve not evolved to withstand any damage - if we were like that we’d have a skin as thick as a rhinoceros - but if we do get damaged, we bleed, and it scabs and heals. We just put that same sort of function into a synthetic material: let’s have something that can heal itself."

“我們不是生來就能抵御一切傷害的——如果我們真能做到，那我們的皮膚就跟犀牛一樣厚了——但如果我們真的受傷了，我們會流血，會結痂會愈合。我們只是將同樣的原理應用到了合成材質中：讓材料也能自我修復。”