Designing immortal products at C4D!
31/01/2019
Designing and researching self-healing materials – bringing an end to premature obsolescence of products and materials
When I first heard the term ‘self-healing products and materials’, I thought it sounded like science fiction! However, I was soon to discover that there were many scientists and researchers around the globe working to make this technology a reality, opening up a whole new stream of smart material and design research possibilities.
As a designer and sustainability enthusiast by background, the idea that we could create products and materials that could autonomously repair themselves, frankly, sounded really cool and something I had to get involved with.
Luckily I was chosen to join the ‘Manufacturing Immortality’ team, which is an EPSC funded research consortium between Cranfield University, University of Bristol, University of Aberdeen, Lancaster University, University of Manchester, Northumbria University Newcastle and Sheffield Hallam University; and I was given the chance to investigate the design opportunities and sustainability implications of integrating this new smart material into products.
As a former master’s graduate in Centre for Competitive Creative Design (C4D) myself, I was happy to return to Cranfield and to the department that helped me to begin my career in academia, but also excited to be examining such an interesting topic alongside industry and researchers from 6 UK universities as well. A multi-disciplinary team, we are mix of chemists, biologists, engineers, scientists and designers each tackling a different aspect of how to develop self-healing materials.
To give you a little more back ground on how self-healing materials work, essentially there are two main categories of self-healing materials intrinsic and extrinsic; extrinsic self-healing materials introduce a healing agent to the damaged site either through microcapsules or vascular networks, much like how your own skin heals. Whereas intrinsic self-healing materials have an innate self-repairing capability which occurs at a molecular level, and is activated by stimuli, such as heat or mechanical force, and so these materials can just be left out in sun, or pushed back together and they will heal like new.
These materials can be used in loads of different applications, and it’s my job to figure out the most environmentally and economically beneficial uses. Within sustainability systems like the Circular Economy, if a product is able to heal itself this would extend its useful service life, reducing the environmental impact and costs associated with undertaking such a repair as shown in the figure below.
One scenario that really benefit are batteries, for say laptops or electric cars. As most people have experienced, batteries degrade over time and so don’t hold their charge as well after a few years, but if we apply self-healing technology they can stop this degradation from occurring, which results in longer lasting, better quality products for consumers.
This is just one example, but throughout the next 2 years of this project we are working closely with industry partners such as Siemens, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Zentraxa and Overlander Batteries, to find the most exciting opportunities, and hopefully will contribute to reducing the environmental burden that industrialised products and materials place on the world.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Academic writing and being critical
Academic writing is daunting. Capturing all your thoughts and analysis and putting them down onto paper in some sort of understandable fashion is a challenge. Did you know we have resources in our Cranfield Study ...
Bank holiday hours for Library Services: Monday 6 May
Library Services staff will be taking a break on Monday 6 May for the early May bank holiday. You will still be able to access all the resources and help you need via our library ...
Cranfield’s Manufacturing and Materials Students’ Showcase Innovation at Project Day
On 26 April, Cranfield University buzzed with excitement as students from across our Manufacturing and Materials MSc programmes presented their group projects at the annual Group Project Presentation Day. This annual event presents ...
Come to a virtual study session in May
What are virtual study sessions? These are online study sessions facilitated by Library staff, where you can study independently alongside other students via Teams. They are a great way for you to dedicate specific time ...
Getting started on your School of Management thesis
Writing a thesis, business plan, internship project or company project can be a daunting task, and you might have some uncertainty or questions around how to get started. This post will share some ideas and ...
Sustainability by royal request: Managing an event fit for a King
The Coronation of King Charles III on May 6th 2023, was watched by millions of people around the world with tens of thousands of people travelling to Central London to witness the pageantry firsthand. ...