Worry about broken phone screen will no longer exist?

A Japanese university student has accidentally discovered a polymer glass material that can self-heal after cracking or breaking, promising to be a new material for smartphone screens.

Photo (illustration): ALAMY

According to the Guardian (UK), a new type of polymer glass that can heal itself when pressed down and under pressure at room temperature is being developed by the University of Tokyo after a student there accidentally discovered the special "self-healing" feature of a type of material.

According to Japanese scientists, the new type of glass they developed has the ability to heal itself after being cracked or broken.

The glass is made from a low-mass polymer called "polyether-thioureas." This material has the ability to self-bond when pressed down without requiring high temperatures to melt the material as usual.

The research, published in the journal Science, was led by Professor Takuzo Aida of the University of Tokyo. The research promises the possibility of creating self-healing glass for use in phone screens or other fragile devices.

Although rubbers and plastics have been made that can self-heal, this is the first time the team has found a hard material that can self-heal at room temperature.

The surprising properties of polyether-thioureas glass were discovered by accident by student Yu Yanagisawa while preparing the material as an adhesive.

Accordingly, Yanagisawa found that when the surface of polyether-thioureas was cut, they would automatically reconnect together, forming a solid surface after being pressed down for 30 seconds at a temperature of 21 degrees Celsius.

Further tests showed that the self-healing material also achieved its original strength after a few hours.

Mr. Yanagisawa told NHK that at first he could not believe the result, so he repeated the experiment many times to confirm the discovery.

"I hope this self-repairing glass will become an environmentally friendly material, avoiding the need to throw away items when they crack or break," he said.

According to TTO