Scientists develop self-healing rubber that could mean punctured tires repair themselves as you drive

‘Flat tires and weak rubber bands may very soon become a thing of the past as researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) recently developed a new tough, self-healing rubber.
While self-healing materials are not new, engineering the same properties on dry materials such as rubber poses a bigger challenge. According to the researchers, this is due to the rubber’s material make-up. Rubber is made up of polymers linked by permanent, covalent bonds that do not reconnect once broken.
The main hurdle was that both reversible and covalent bonds do not interact with one another, in the same way as water repels oil. To address this, the experts developed a molecular rope called randomly-branched polymers to link the two types of bonds on a molecular level. The research team were able to homogeneously mix two previously immiscible bonds.
Following the molecular process, the scientists were able to create a transparent, tough, self-healing rubber.’
Read more: Scientists develop self-healing rubber that could mean punctured tires repair themselves as you drive