3D-printed rubber materials self-heal when fractured or punctured

A team in the US has developed 3D-printed rubber materials that can repair themselves, an advance that could prove transformative to manufacturers of shoes, tyres, or soft robotics.

Developed by researchers from the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering (USC Viterbi) and University of Connecticut, the new material is said to have the added advantage of being quick to manufacture as well as being durable.

The material is manufactured using photopolymerization-based 3D printing. Photopolymerization – a process that uses light to solidify a liquid resin - is achieved through a reaction with thiols, which are organosulphur compounds that can be made into disulphides with the addition of an oxidiser. It is the disulphide group that can reform when broken, leading to the self-healing ability. Finding the right ratio between these two groups was the key to unlocking the materials' properties.