'Stunning' discovery: Metals can heal themselves (phys.org)

submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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'Stunning' discovery: Metals can heal themselves::Scientists for the first time 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—one in which self-healing engines, bridges and airplanes could reverse damage caused by wear and tear, making them safer and longer-lasting.

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[-] simple@lemm.ee 29 points 11 months ago

Isn't cold welding essentially that?

[-] blackluster117@possumpat.io 13 points 11 months ago

The issue is that, from my understanding, it needs to be in a low/no oxygen environment to prevent the oxidized layer that forms and blocks the metal from fusing. I've heard from interviews with astronauts that they can re-fuse chunks of metal in space by just pushing them back together.

[-] twack@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"Autonomous healing of fatigue cracks via cold welding"

That's the literal name of the paper. I'm quite over this story getting pumped around the internet. This is not news. This is not novel.

Also, this particular source leaving out the fact that the experiment was performed under vacuum is especially deceitful.

[-] blabber6285@sopuli.xyz 7 points 11 months ago

Yeah and preventing that from happening in space is rather complex task. Especially on parts that grind against each other causing the existing oxidized layer to wear off.

[-] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 17 points 11 months ago

Surprised in an article about self healing metal, they didn't mention cold fusion which has been known about for decades.

If this is the same physical phenomenon or a different one, it is incredibly fascinating and it's importance, if it can be controlled, is massive.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 14 points 11 months ago

[-] scala@lemmy.ml 6 points 11 months ago

Not far-fetched at all. Metal has memory. Which is how body shops warp metal back to normal on body work after a collision, as long as it's not too far gone.

[-] blabber6285@sopuli.xyz 9 points 11 months ago

There's different kind of "memories" when talking about metals but this is probably not related to that. What I suspect happened is cold fusion in a very clean environment without oxygen (or very low oxygen) where oxidation doesn't happen, allowing the very very small fractures to reattach.

this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023

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