Prospects of Application of Self-Healing Materials and Technologies Based on Them

Self-healing materials are of increasing interest for science and industry. However, such materials and technologies based on them are not widely implemented at the large-scale industrial level. There are reports on single successful implementations of such technologies; the concept of artificial self-healing of nonbiological materials is mostly actualized in prototypes for self-healing materials and systems. Self-restoring of the initial characteristics of materials is the most successfully realized in polymers and compositions based on them, and polymer coatings are the most applicable and commercially demanded self-healing materials. In this article, the basic mechanisms of self-healing of the initial characteristics in materials of different types are briefly presented and the technologies based on them are considered. The data on self-healing materials of different chemical nature (polymers, cements, ceramics, metals, and composite materials) are analyzed. The physical and chemical principles of providing the effect of self-restoring of the initial characteristics are highlighted, and the prospects of practical implementation of self-healing materials and technologies on their basis are discussed. The sources of information used were overviews on self-healing materials of different types, patents, and scientific articles.