SPP 1568:  Design and Generic Principles of Self-Healing Materials

• Subject Area: Materials Science and Engineering ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Chemistry ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Mechanical and Industrial Engineering ; Medicine ; Physics
• Term: from 2011 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 172542336

Biological materials are evolutionarily optimised functional systems. One of their most outstanding properties is the ability of self-healing and regeneration of function upon the infliction of damage by external mechanical loads. In nature, self-healing can take place either at the level of single molecules or at the macroscopic level: merging of broken bones, closure and healing of injuries of blood vessels and tissue. Man-made materials generally do not have this healing ability, as all current engineering materials were and are developed on the basis of the 'damage prevention' paradigm rather than a 'damage management' concept.
However, self-healing materials certainly offer enormous possibilities, in particular for applications where long-term reliability in poorly accessible areas, such as tunnels, underground infrastructures, high-rise buildings or space applications, is important. In addition, self-healing would be ideal for applications, which are prone to damage, such as surface coatings. However, up to now only few strategies exist for the development of self-healing materials, and those, which exist are focussed on only one material class and one type of application only.
A dedicated fundamental approach to the self-healing concept addressing repair mechanisms and strategies relevant for implementation to all material classes are still absent. For this reason, the objective of the Priority Programme is the conceptual design of synthetic self-healing materials and the elucidation of generic, fundamental material-independent principles (e.g. following a sequence of crack generation and propagation, mobility and transport of material, interface bonding and immobilisation of the transported material). Respecting the intrinsic character of each class of materials generic approaches to self-healing will be formulated, tested and ultimately implemented in new materials design.
The vision of the Priority Programme is that novel materials with self-healing capability will enable access to new fields of application including biomedical implants, ultra lightweight engineering metals and ceramics as well as high performance polymers and composites.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• International Connection: Austria, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom

Projects

• A model for self-healing anisotropic composites (Applicants Bluhm, Joachim ;  Schröder, Jörg )
• Activation of Self-healing Processes in Ionomeric Elastomers by Local Heating (Applicant Schmidt, Annette M. )
• Coordination and administration of the priority programme "Design and Generic Principles of Self-healing Materials" (SPP 1568) (Applicant Schubert, Ulrich S. )
• Heapocrates: Healing Polymers for preventing Corrosion of Metallic Systems (Applicants Crespy, Daniel ;  Rohwerder, Michael )
• Improved healing potential of polymers containing double reversible non-covalent interactions: Linking molecular reversibility and macroscale healing (Applicants Popp, Jürgen ;  Schubert, Ulrich S. ;  van der Zwaag, Sybrand )
• Knowledge based design of crack and erosion damage healing nanolaminates (Applicants Leyens, Christoph ;  Schneider, Ph.D., Jochen M. ;  Sloof, Wim G. )
• Mechanisms of crack healing in reactive MAX phase ceramic composites (Applicant Greil, Peter )
• Mechanochemical and supramolecular self-healing polymers (Applicant Binder, Wolfgang )
• Microscopic understanding of the structure and dynamics of self-healing macromolecules (Applicant Pyckhout-Hintzen, Wim )
• NMR investigations of self-healing processes in supramolecular elastomers (Applicant Saalwächter, Kay )
• Protein metal complexes as reversible sacrificial bonds in self-healing biopolymers (Applicant Harrington, Matthew )
• Self-healing block copolymer films - from mechanistic understanding towards applications in coatings and membranes (Applicant Schacher, Felix H. )
• Self-healing capacity of damage tolerant calcium phosphate biocements (Applicants Gbureck, Uwe ;  Müller, Frank. A. )
• Self-healing coatings by reversible crosslinking: Mechanistic investigations of defined model systems on the molecular level using linear and non-linear Raman microspectroscopy (Applicant Schubert, Ulrich S. )
• Self-healing elastomers based on bromobutyl rubber with reversible interacting groups (Applicants Böhme, Frank ;  Heinrich, Gert )
• Self-Healing Inspired by Nature: Exocytosis-Like Recovering of Morphology and Optical Properties of Membranes and Interfaces Composed of Self-Assembled Luminescent Dyes (Applicant Presselt, Martin )
• Self-healing metallopolymers: From the biological model to synthetic materials (Applicants Harrington, Matthew ;  Schubert, Ulrich S. )
• Self-healing of conjugated polymers - Synthesis, Mechanistic Studies and Photophysical Properties (Applicants Dietzek-Ivansic, Benjamin ;  Hager, Martin )
• Synthesis and properties of self-healing polymers and nanocomposites derived from cellulose (Applicants Kickelbick, Guido ;  Stommel, Markus ;  Wenz, Gerhard )
• Tailoring of self-healing behavior and dimensional stability of rubber materials (Applicant Böhme, Frank )
• Towards self-healing metals by employing optimally-dispersed Ti-Ni shape memory nano-particles (Applicants Grabowski, Blazej ;  Springer, Hauke )
• Understanding the role of trigger signal spreading, release rate of suitable active agents and their transport rate for optimal healing in extrinsic self-healing materials (Applicants Crespy, Daniel ;  Rohwerder, Michael )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Ulrich S. Schubert