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11 posts from March 2009

March 17, 2009

Self Healing Paint, but what about the lobsters!

or, How are Plastics and Lobsters connected?

I enjoyed this one...

Lobster Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, which has a leading polymers program, have developed a polyurethane paint coating that is self healing to small scratches.

They use a substance known as chitosan, which is found in the shells of crabs, shrimp and lobster!

When a scratch is exposed to sunlight, the substance starts to form molecular chains which breech the gap and fix the small scratch.

On the bad side, it only works once in a given area, not good for the repeat offender.

On the worrying side, could this make lobsters an endangered species? 

Could it work on a larger scale with pavement? hmmm, potholes!

Anyway, nice work Marek Urban of Southern Miss

Coating makes scratches on cars disappear :: Reuters


and thanks to inventorspot.com for letting me know.

 




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