Posted December 23, 2011 by Raj Agrawal in Technology

In Research: Self Healing Electronics Technology To Restore Conductivity

Self Healing Electronics – We had earlier talked about self healing materials that quickly repair themselves when damaged. Now, a similar idea has been applied to electronics. Electronics are vulnerable enough to render the entire device dysfunctional, even if a single circuit breaks. Engineers at University of Illinois (the same guys behind the development of self healing materials), have pushed their development further and built a mechanism that restores the electrical flow on a damaged circuit by automatically repairing it, all within a fraction of a second.

How does it work?

When the circuit breaks with a crack, the microcapsules break open and release the fluid metal contained inside. This fluid metal fills the crack; restoring the electric flow.

Watch the video talking about Self Healing Electronics,

Advantages and Applications of Self Healing Electronics -

The major advantage of this new technology is that there is no need of human intervention to perform the repair. It’s completely autonomous. The breaking of microcapsules is induced only when and where the crack forms.

It’s application is highly advantageous to huge machines and devices, especially to air borne vehicles where it’s difficult to determine the exact location of the circuit break.