Self healing plane

New aircraft could repair itself mid-flight.

Bristol University engineers have developed a material that can repair itself automatically. Mimicking the processes found in nature, such as in bleeding and healing, materials such as those used in aircraft could mend themselves, even during a flight.

The technique involves an epoxy resin ‘bleeding’ into an irregularity in the material, such as in a tiny hole or crack due to wear and tear or fatigue in an aircraft. The epoxy resin would bleed into a hole or crack quickly sealing it up, restoring its structural integrity.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the technique has the potential to be applied wherever fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are used – not only in aircraft but cars, wind turbines and maybe in spacecraft manufacture.

Bleeding material

The innovative aspect to the self-healing material involves the hollow glass fibres contained in FRP composites with resin and hardener. If the fibres break, the resin and hardener ooze out, enabling the composite to recover up to 80-90 per cent of its original strength – comfortably allowing a plane to function at its normal operational load.

“This approach can deal with small-scale damage that’s not obvious to the naked eye but which might lead to serious failures in structural integrity if it escapes attention,” said Dr Ian Bond, who has led the project. “It’s intended to complement rather than replace conventional inspection and maintenance routines, which can readily pick up larger-scale damage, caused by a bird strike, for example.”

The new EPSRC-funded self-repair technique could be available for commercial use within around four years. 

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