New York City, 22 January 2019: The global Self-Healing Materials Market is anticipated to reach USD 8.23
billion by 2026. Self-healing materials are artificially developed substances
that are capable of restoring and repairing their functionality automatically
without the requirement of any external or human intervention. These materials
have the inbuilt capacity to substantially recover their load transferring
ability after damage. Since its introduction, there have been numerous
innovations in the field of self-healing materials.
These products are being developed for
application in smart phone screens and are made of ionic salts and stretchable
polymers. These components are not only capable of healing scratches & cuts
but also conduct electricity. They consist of bonds such as an ion-dipole interaction,
which is a strong force between polar molecules and charged ions. These ions
attract each other when the material experiences scratches or minute cracks.
However, it takes around twenty-four hours for the ions to get back to their
original formation.
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In recent times, self-healing materials such as epoxy resins, hydrogels among others have found applications in concrete and roofing materials. Researchers in this field have discovered a specific bacteria group, which are embedded in the concrete thereby aiding the material to heal cracks. These bacteria produce metabolic calcium carbonate which acts as the healing agent. Further research and development in this sector has led to the introduction of soak clay balls that contain these bacteria types which are then added to concrete used in various construction projects such as residential buildings, bridges, tunnels etc.
As the water starts penetrating the
concrete structure, these bacteria or microorganisms become active and hence,
release calcium carbonate, which is one of the primary components of concrete
mixtures. These bacteria are capable of closing cracks, however only up to a
range of few millimeters.
Some of the other recent developments
that have been commercially introduced in the market include the self-healing
screen used in smart phones. Motorola uses shatterproof displays which are an
example of the application of these components used in smart phone displays in
the present scenario. These advancements in the industry along with such high
rate of commercialization of these products in the industry are some
significant factors that support a robust growth of self-healing materials in
the near future.
Competitive
Landscape and Key Vendors:
Key findings from the study suggest
that the largest share of the market in 2017 was of the North American region.
This is due to the fact that major research projects in this field have been
undertaken in universities along with support from the multinationals in the
U.S. The country was the leading market in terms of production for the past few
years. The substantially advanced automobile, aerospace manufacturing sector in
the U.S. has been the major industries driving demand of these products since
its inception.
Major industry participants
manufacturing these products in the global market space include Dow Chemicals,
AkzoNobel, Huntsman Advanced Materials, and Autonomic Materials, Slips
Technologies, Inc., Sensor Coating Systems Ltd., Acciona S.A., Applied Thin Films,
Inc. (ATFI), Akzo Nobel N.V., Avecom N.V., Autonomic Materials Inc., BASF SE,
Covestro AG (Formerly Bayer Material Science), Critical S.A. and Devan
Chemicals.
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