According to the US Department of Defense, corrosion costs the Navy approximately US$7 billion every year. That’s certainly an incentive for developing a method of keeping military vehicles from rusting. Now, researchers from the Office of Naval Research and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory may be onto something. They’re looking into the use a powder that could allow scratched or chipped paint to “heal like human skin.”
The powder, known as polyfibroblast, consists of microscopic polymer spheres that contain an oily resin. Polyfibroblast can be added to paint primer, in order to completely cover the exterior surfaces of a vehicle. When the primer is scratched, the spheres in that area rupture, causing the resin that was inside of them to flow out. That resin forms a “waxy, water-repellant coating,” that protects the exposed steel from the elements.
via Gizmag
