{"id":6525,"date":"2023-08-09T23:00:34","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/"},"modified":"2024-01-09T17:52:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T17:52:46","slug":"stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. and Texas A&M University, have witnessed pieces of metal crack, then fuse back together without any human intervention, overturning fundamental scientific theories in the process. If the newly discovered phenomenon can be harnessed, it could usher in an engineering revolution \u2014 one in which self-healing engines, bridges and airplanes could reverse damage caused by wear and tear, making them safer and longer-lasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was absolutely stunning to watch first-hand,\u201d said Sandia materials scientist Brad Boyce. \u201cWhat we have confirmed is that metals have their own intrinsic, natural ability to heal themselves, at least in the case of fatigue damage at the nanoscale,\u201d Boyce said.<\/p>\n

Fatigue damage is one way machines wear out and eventually break. Repeated stress or motion causes microscopic cracks to form. Over time, these cracks grow and spread until \u2014 snap! The whole device breaks, or in the scientific lingo, it fails.<\/p>\n

The fissure Boyce and his team saw disappear was one of these tiny but consequential fractures \u2014 measured in nanometers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom solder joints in our electronic devices to our vehicle\u2019s engines to the bridges that we drive over, these structures often fail unpredictably due to cyclic loading that leads to crack initiation and eventual fracture,\u201d Boyce said. \u201cWhen they do fail, we have to contend with replacement costs, lost time and, in some cases, even injuries or loss of life. The economic impact of these failures is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars every year for the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although scientists have created some self-healing materials, mostly plastics, the notion of a self-healing metal has largely been the domain of science fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cCracks in metals were only ever expected to get bigger, not smaller. Even some of the basic equations we use to describe crack growth preclude the possibility of such healing processes,\u201d Boyce said.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Michael Demkowicz \u2014 then an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s department of materials science and engineering, now a full professor at Texas A&M \u2014 began chipping away at conventional materials theory. He published a new theory, based on findings in computer simulations, that under certain conditions metal should be able to weld shut cracks formed by wear and tear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly weren\u2019t looking for it,\u201d Boyce said.<\/p>\n

Khalid Hattar, now an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Chris Barr, who now works for the Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Nuclear Energy, were running the experiment at Sandia when the discovery was made. They only meant to evaluate how cracks formed and spread through a nanoscale piece of platinum using a specialized electron microscope technique they had developed to repeatedly pull on the ends of the metal 200 times per second.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, about 40 minutes into the experiment, the damage reversed course. One end of the crack fused back together as if it was retracing its steps, leaving no trace of the former injury. Over time, the crack regrew along a different direction.<\/p>\n

Hattar called it an \u201cunprecedented insight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyce, who was aware of the theory, shared his findings with Demkowicz. \u201cI was very glad to hear it, of course,\u201d Demkowicz said. The professor then recreated the experiment on a computer model, substantiating that the phenomenon witnessed at Sandia was the same one he had theorized years earlier.<\/p>\n

A lot remains unknown about the self-healing process, including whether it will become a practical tool in a manufacturing setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe extent to which these findings are generalizable will likely become a subject of extensive research,\u201d Boyce said. \u201cWe show this happening in nanocrystalline metals in vacuum. But we don\u2019t know if this can also be induced in conventional metals in air.\u201d
\nYet for all the unknowns, the discovery remains a leap forward at the frontier of materials science.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that this finding will encourage materials researchers to consider that, under the right circumstances, materials can do things we never expected,\u201d Demkowicz said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Image – Green marks the spot where a fissure formed, then fused back together in this artistic rendering of nanoscale self-healing in metal, discovered at Sandia National Laboratories. Red arrows indicate the direction of the pulling force that unexpectedly triggered the phenomenon. Courtesy of: Dan Thompson.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information:<\/p>\n

Sandia National Laboratories<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.sandia.gov\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Texas A&M University<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.tamu.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first time, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. and Texas A&M University, have witnessed pieces of metal crack, then fuse back together without any human intervention, overturning fundamental scientific theories in the process. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63116,"featured_media":7166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[548,480,549,550,495,551,474,475,503,509,552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fracture","category-materials-properties-and-performance","category-mechanical-properties","category-mechanical-testing","category-metals-and-alloys","category-microstructures","category-news","category-news-articles","category-research-and-development","category-testing-and-characterization","category-testing-and-monitoring"],"yoast_head":"\nStunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first time, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. and Texas A&M University, have witnessed pieces of metal crack, then fuse back together without any human intervention, overturning fundamental scientific theories in the process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Failure Analysis Society\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/app\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"182\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"acurrington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"acurrington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"acurrington\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2f9bbd68d75b5b78001213648ffbc4\"},\"headline\":\"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":739,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Fracture\",\"Materials Properties and Performance\",\"Mechanical Properties\",\"Mechanical Testing\",\"Metals and Alloys\",\"Microstructures\",\"news\",\"News Articles\",\"Research and Development\",\"Testing and Characterization\",\"Testing and monitoring\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2024\\\/01\\\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":182},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Failure Analysis Society\",\"description\":\"Failure Analysis Society ASM International\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Failure Analysis Society\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/layout_set_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/42\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/layout_set_logo.png\",\"width\":241,\"height\":94,\"caption\":\"Failure Analysis Society\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d2f9bbd68d75b5b78001213648ffbc4\",\"name\":\"acurrington\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.asminternational.org\\\/fas\\\/author\\\/acurrington\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society","og_description":"For the first time, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. and Texas A&M University, have witnessed pieces of metal crack, then fuse back together without any human intervention, overturning fundamental scientific theories in the process.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/","og_site_name":"Failure Analysis Society","article_published_time":"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":250,"height":182,"url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/app\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"acurrington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"acurrington","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/"},"author":{"name":"acurrington","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2f9bbd68d75b5b78001213648ffbc4"},"headline":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves","datePublished":"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/"},"wordCount":739,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg","articleSection":["Fracture","Materials Properties and Performance","Mechanical Properties","Mechanical Testing","Metals and Alloys","Microstructures","news","News Articles","Research and Development","Testing and Characterization","Testing and monitoring"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/","url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/","name":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves - Failure Analysis Society","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-09T17:30:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-09T17:52:46+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2024\/01\/FAS__081723__Sandia__250.jpg","width":250,"height":182},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/stunning-discovery-metals-can-heal-themselves\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stunning discovery: metals can heal themselves"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/","name":"Failure Analysis Society","description":"Failure Analysis Society ASM International","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#organization","name":"Failure Analysis Society","url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/layout_set_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn-prd-main.asm-media.cloud\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/10\/layout_set_logo.png","width":241,"height":94,"caption":"Failure Analysis Society"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2f9bbd68d75b5b78001213648ffbc4","name":"acurrington","url":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/author\/acurrington\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asminternational.org\/fas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}